Charles  Edward  Rugh 


FDHQATTON  DTTPT 


Professor  of  Education 
University  of  California 


fntom&nral  ffimca&m  Stxus 

EDITED  BY 

WILLIAM  T.  HARRIS,  A.M.,  LL.D. 


Volume  III. 


THE 

INTERNATIONAL  EDUCATION  SERIES. 

12mo,   cloth,   uniform    binding. 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  EDUCATION  SERIES  was  projected  for  the  pur- 
pose of  bringing  together  in  orderly  arrangement  the  best  writings,  new  and  old, 
upon  educational  subjects,  and  presenting  a  complete  course  of  reading  and  training 
for  teachers  generally.  It  is  edited  by  W.  T.  Harris,  LL.  D.,  now  United  States 
Commissioner  of  Education,  who  has  contributed  for  the  different  volumes  in  the  way 
of  introductions,  analysis,  and  commentary.  The  volumes  are  tastefully  and  substan- 
tially bound  in  uniform  style. 

VOLUMES  NOW  READY; 
Vol.  I.— THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EDUCATION.  By  Johann  Karl  Fried- 
rich  Rosenkranz,  Doctor  of  Theology  and  Professor  of  Philosophy  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Konigsberg.  Translated  from  the  German  by  Anna  C.  Brackett. 
Second  edition,  revised,  and  accompanied  with  Commentary  and  complete 
Analysis.    Price,  $1.50. 

Vol.  II.— A  HISTORY  OF  EDUCATION.  By  F.  V.  N.  Painter,  A.  M., 
Professor  of  Modern  Languages  and  Literature  in  Roanoke  College,  Va.    Price, 

Vol.  III.— THE  RISE  AND  EARLY  CONSTITUTION  OF  UNIVER- 
SITIES. With  a  Survey  of  Mediaeval  Education.  By  S.  S.  Laurie, 
LL.  D.,  Professor  of  the  Institutes  and  History  of  Education  in  the  University 
of  Edinburgh.     Price,  $1.50. 

Vol.  IV.— THE  VENTILATION  AND  WARMING  OF  SCHOOL 
BUILDINGS.  By  Gilbert  B.  Morrison,  Teacher  of  Physics  and  Chem- 
istry in  Kansas  City  High  School.     Price,  $1.00. 

Vol.  V.— THE  EDUCATION  OF  MAN.  By  Friedrich  Froebel.  Trans- 
lated and  furnished  with  ample  notes  by  W.  N.  Hailmann,  A.  M.,  Superin- 
tendent of  Public  Schools,  La  Porte,  Ind.     Price,  $1.50. 

Vol.  VI.— ELEMENTARY  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  EDUCATION.  By 
Dr.  J.  Baldwin,  author  of  M  The  Art  of  School  Management."     Price,  $1.50. 

Vol.  VII.— THE  SENSES  AND  THE  WILL.  (Part  I  of  "The  Mind  of 
the  Child.")  By  W.  Preyer,  Professor  of  Physiology  in  Jena.  Translated 
from  the  original  German  by  H.  W.  Brown,  Teacher  in  the  State  Normal 
School  at  Worcester,  Mass.     Price,  $1.50. 

Vol.  VIIL— MEMORY:  What  it  is  and  how  to  Improve  it.  By  David 
Kay,  F.  R.  G.  S.,  author  of  "  Education  and  Educators,"  etc.     Price,  $1.50. 

Vol.  IX.— THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  INTELLECT.  (Part  II  of 
"The  Mind  of  the  Child.")  By  W.  Preyer,  Professor  of  Physiology  in 
Jena.  Translated  from  the  original  German  by  H.  W.  Brown,  Teacher  in  the 
State  Normal  School  at  Worcester,  Mass.    Price,  $1.5,0. 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  EDUCATION  SERIES.— (Continued.) 

Vol.  X.-HOW  TO  STUDY  GEOGRAPHY.  A  Practical  Exposition  of 
Methods  and  Devices  in  Teaching  Geography  which  apply  the  Principles  and 
Plans  of  Ritter  and  Guyot.  By  Francis  W.  Parker,  Principal  of  the  Cook 
County  (Illinois)  Normal  School.     Price,  $1.50. 

Vol.  XI.— EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  :  Its  History  from 
the  Earliest  Settlements.  By  Richard  G.  Boone,  A.  M.,  Professor  of 
Pedagogy  in  Indiana  University.    Price,  $1.50. 

Vol.  XII.— EUROPEAN  SCHOOLS ;  or,  What  I  Saw  in  the  Schools  of 
Germany,  France,  Austria,  and  Switzerland.  By  L.  R.  Klemm,  Ph.  D., 
Principal  of  the  Cincinnati  Technical  School,  author  of  "  Chips  from  a  Teacher's 
Workshop,"  etc.     Fully  illustrated.     Price,  $2.00. 

Vol.  XIII.— PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  THE  TEACHERS  OF  PUBLIC 
SCHOOLS.  By  George  Howland,  Superintendent  of  the  Chicago  Public 
Schools.     Price,  $1.00. 

Vol.  XIV.— PESTALOZZI :  His  Life  and  Work.  By  Roger  de  Guimps. 
Authorized  translation  from  the  second  French  edition,  by  J.  Russell,  B.  A., 
Assistant  Master  in  University  College,  London.  With  an  Introduction  by 
Rev.  R.  H.  Quick,  M.  A.     Price,  $1.50. 

Vol.  XV.— SCHOOL     SUPERVISION.      By  J.  L.  Pickard,  LL.  D.      Price, 

$1.00. 

Vol.  XVI.— HIGHER  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  IN  EUROPE.  By 
Helene  Lange,  Berlin.  Translated  and  accompanied  by  comparative  statistics 
by  L.  R.  Klemm.    Price,  $1.00. 

Vol.  XVII.— ESSAYS  ON  EDUCATIONAL  REFORMERS.  By  Robert 
Herbert  Quick,  M.  A.,  Trinity  College,  Cambridge;  formerly  Assistant  Mas- 
ter at  Harrow,  and  Lecturer  on  the  History  of  Education  at  Cambridge;  late 
Vicar  of  Ledbergh.  Only  authorized  edition  of  the  work  as  rewritten  in  1890. 
Price,  $1.50. 

Vol.  XVIII.— A    TEXT-BOOK     IN     PSYCHOLOGY.       An   Attempt   to 

FOUND    THE    SCIENCE    OF    PSYCHOLOGY    ON    EXPERIENCE,    METAPHYSICS,   AND 

Mathematics.     By  Johann  Friedrich  Herbart.    Translated  from  the  origi- 
nal German  by  Margaret  K.  Smith,  Teacher  in  the  State  Normal  School  at 
Oswego,  New  York.    Price,  $1.25. 
Vol.  XIX.— PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  THE  ART  OF  TEACHING. 
By  Dr.  Joseph  Baldwin.    Price,  $1.50. 

The  following,  among  others,  are  in  preparation : 
Vol.  XX— ROUSSEAU'S  EMILE.    By  W.  H.  Payne.    Price,  $1.50. 
Vol.  XXI.— ETHICAL  TRAINING  IN  SCHOOLS.     By  Felix  Adler. 

Circular,  describing  the  different  volumes  more  in  detail,  mailed  to  any  address 

on  request. 

New  York:    D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers,  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  Street. 


INTERNATIONAL  EDUCATION  SERIES 


THE 

RISE  AND  EARLY  CONSTITUTION 
OF  UNIVERSITIES 


WITH    A 


SUEVEY  OF  MEDLEYAL  EDUCATION 


S.  S.  LAURIE,  LL.  D. 

PROFESSOR  OP  THE  INSTITUTES  AND  HISTORY  OP  EDUCATION  IN  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OP  EDINBURGH 


NEW  YORK 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY 

1,  3,  and  5  BOND  STREET 
1892. 


AAI77 
l4- 


M# 


'Virv        -f 


<iZu^u^  fLM-zcy 


Copyright,  1886. 


By  D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY. 


EDITOR'S   PREFACE. 


In  the  history  of  the  rise  and  organization  of 
universities  the  student  of  education  finds  the  most 
interesting  and  suggestive  topic  in  the  entire  range 
of  his  specialty.  For,  in  the  history  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  higher  and  highest  education,  he  sees 
the  definite  modes  by  which  the  contributions  of 
the  past  to  the  well-being  of  the  present  have  been 
transmitted.  The  school  undertakes  to  endow  the  ^M 
youth  with  the  acquisitions  of  his  race,  or,  rather, 
to  qualify  him  to  undertake  this  acquisition  for  him- 
self. It  therefore  arms  him  Avith  the  proper  habits 
of  study  and  co-operation  by  discipline.  It  instructs 
him  in  those  elementary  branches  of  knowledge 
which  serve  as  keys  to  the  whole  treasury  of  learn- 
ing. Every  study  holds  its  place  because  of  its  claim 
to  present  an  epitome  of  a  department  of  knowledge, 
transmitting  its  net  results — like  geography,  his- 
tory, or  grammar ;  or  else  because  it  gives  the  mas- 
tery of  some  art  necessary  to  such  transmission — as 
in  the  case  of  the  arts  of  reading  and  writing  or 
numerical  calculation. 


yi  EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 

What  did  the  ancients  fix  upon  as  the  course  of 
study  in  their  schools  ?  In  what  way  have  we  va- 
ried from  their  curriculum  ?  These  important  ques- 
tions being  answered,  we  wish  to  ascertain  the 
practical  and  theoretical  reasons  which  have  pre- 
vailed and  which  now  prevail  in  the  selection  of 
these  branches  of  study  in  our  schools.  In  this 
inquiry  the  university  is  the  central  theme.  Its  first 
beginnings  at  Athens,  Alexandria,  and  Rome,  its 
revival  in  the  middle  ages,  and  its  modern  expan- 
sion show  us  the  status  of  this  question  of  the  course 
of  study,  and  much  more.  They  acquaint  us  with 
the  history  of  methods  of  organization,  of  disci- 
pline, and  of  instruction.  The  epoch  included  be- 
tween the  fifth  century  B.  C,  and  the  fifteenth  cent- 
ury A.  D.,  too,  is  marked  by  the  culmination  of  the 
Greek  and  Roman  civilizations  and  their  transmuta- 
tion into  Christianity,  and  it  possesses  for  all  Chris- 
tian civilizations  a  supreme  interest. 

The  Greeks  first  make  a  literature  and  then  be- 
gin to  develop  science,  or,  in  other  words,  to  dis- 
cover through  reflection  the  forms,  laws,  or  methods 
of  human  activity.  Through  the  efforts  of  the 
sophists  and  schools  of  philosophy,  grammar,  rheto- 
ric, and  logic  arise.  These  three  products  of  reflec- 
tion presuppose  a  literature  as  already  existing,  and 
exhibit  in  a  systematic  form  the  normal  types  of 
language  and  thought.  Hence  they  constitute  a 
basis  for  criticism,  and  at  the  same  time  furnish  ma- 
terial for  education.  For  education  is  inconceivable 
without  normal  types,  models,  or  ideals  to  which 


EDITOR 'S  PREFA  CE.  v[{ 

the  pupil  is  to  be  taught  to  conform.  There  must  \ 
be  a  standard  before  him,  or  else  he  can  not  be  J 
trained,  either  in  will  or  in  intellect.  -^ 

Grammar,  as  it  appears,  expounds  the  forms  of 
speech,  written  and  printed,  or  spoken ;  it  deals  with 
the  elements  of  expression  of  ideas.  Rhetoric,  on 
the  other  hand,  shows  the  forms  of  presentation  of 
ideas ;  while  logic  treats  of  the  forms  of  thinking 
ideas.  Here  we  have  three  sciences  or  arts  that 
deal  with  forms. 

It  seems  that  the  course  of  instruction  in  the 
trivium  and  quadrivium  was  established  under  Al- 
exander the  Great,  and  that  the  labors  of  Isocrates, 
Aristotle,  and  Theophrastus  stand  accredited  with 
much  influence  in  its  adoption.  The  trivium  in- 
cluded the  three  formal  sciences  just  named — gram- 
mar, rhetoric  and  dialectic,  and  furnished  the  foun- 
dation of  intellectual  education.  The  quadrivium 
included  arithmetic,  geometry,  astronomy,  and  mu- 
sic— four  branches  relating  mostly  to  nature,  and  in 
contrast  with  the  studies  of  the  trivium,  which  relate 
to  human  nature  or  man. 

As  practically  taught,  grammar  included  a  study 
of  the  poets  and  prose  writers,  and,  besides  gram- 
matical forms,  looked  incidentally  toward  the  mean- 
ing and  substance  of  thought.  What  was  known 
of  history  was  also  brought  in  under  this  topic. 

Rhetoric,  likewise,  was  made  to  include  much 
besides  the  forms  of  literary  works,  for  it  necessarily 
considered  questions  of  human  nature  as  the  object 
toward  which  literary  form  is  directed.     It  looked 


viii  EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 

into  the  moral  grounds  of  action,  and  considered 
the  cultivation  of  the  statesman  and  the  science  of 
politics. 

Dialectic  included  chiefly  logic,  but  expanded 
also  into  metaphysics,  and  even  reached,  in  thor- 
ough schools,  physics  and  ethics. 

Arithmetic  included  numerical  calculation  of  an 
elementary  character,  and  a  variety  of  numerical 
data  useful  in  business,  trade,  and  the  keeping  ol 
the  calendar.  Geometry  included  a  few  definitions 
and  theorems  from  Euclid,  and  then  branched  off 
into  geography.  Astronomy  included  much  that 
we  are  in  the  habit  of  studying  under  the  head  of 
natural  philosophy. 

Music  had  originally  included  all  the  branches 
of  intellectual  and  moral  education — all  depart- 
ments presided  over  by  the  Nine  Muses.  Early 
Greek  education  included  gymnastics  and  music — 
the  latter  used  in  this  wide  sense.  In  the  course  of 
time  the  scope  of  this  branch  of  study  was  gradu- 
ally limited,  and  its  subjects  transferred  to  other 
departments. 

What  strikes  us  as  especially  noteworthy  in  the 
history  of  education  is  the  predominance  of  the 
studies  that  relate  to  dry  forms — dry  to  the  pupil, 
because  they  relate  to  what  is  general  and  not  to 
what  is  particular  and  personal  in  its  interest  for  him. 

These  dry,  formal  studies  have  to  be  learned 
with  hard  labor.  For  the  reason  that  they  are 
much  discredited  in  some  recent  theories  of  educa- 
tion, it  is  very  important  to  note  the  fact  that  is 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE,  ix 

made  manifest  in  this  history  of  the  university  that 
the  formal  studies  of  the  trivium  and  quadrivium 
have  furnished  the  staple  of  secondary  and  higher 
education  from  the  first  schools  in  classic  times 
down  to  the  present.  An  effort  should  be  made  to 
ascertain  with  greater  precision  what  their  effect 
on  the  mind  really  is.  This  is  not  the  place  to  dis- 
cuss the  topic,  but  rather  to  point  out  the  interest- 
ing lesson  which  history  offers  us.  The  general  re- 
mark may  be  offered  that  the  study  of  forms  leads 
to  the  habit  of  generalization.  Grammar,  rhetoric, 
and  logic  may  be  forgotten  soon  after  school,  but 
even  a  superficial  course  in  these  branches  leads  to 
some  acquirement  of  the  mental  habit  of  looking  at 
the  form  or  method  or  law  of  a  phenomenon.  With- 
out this  habit,  the  mind  follows  only  the  succession 
of  details  and  soon  gets  lost. 

Arithmetic  deals  with  the  most  general  form  of 
succession,  the  form    of    time;    geometry,  in  like 
manner,  to  the  forms  of  what  is  extended  in  space. 
Thus  these  two  studies  of  the  quadrivium  are  funda-  j 
mental  as  regards  the  form  of  inorganic  nature. 

Formal  studies  seem  to  be  of  the  nature  of  seeds, 
not  so  valuable  in  their  immediate  and  direct  sig- 
nificance as  in  their  fruitage  in  a  distant  harvest. 

Again,  the  becoming  of  Christian  civilization  is 
to  be  traced  in  this  history.  In  the  first  ten  centu- 
ries of  our  era,  there  is  a  reaction  against  the  old 
world  which  had  to  be  supplanted.  There  is  not 
much  certainty  as  to  what  may  be  accepted  and 
brought  over  from  the  old  into  the  new.     The  triv- 


x  EDITOR'S  PREFACE, 

ium  and  quadrivium,  with  some  curtailment  and 
some  substitution,  is  generally  accepted,  but  there 
must  be  new  applications  made  of  these  formal  arts. 
It  became  necessary  to  discover  the  lines  of  rela- 
tion which  the  new  world-principle  of  Christianity 
holds  to  those  seven  liberal  arts  as  well  as  to  the 
substantial  life  of  the  old  heathenism  as  it  had 
survived  in  civil  laws  and  literature.  Hence  arose 
the  three  great  bodies  of  learning  on  which  was 
founded  the  modern  university  as  a  structure  rising 
above  the  groundwork  in  the  trivium  and  quad- 
rivium. The  first  was  theology.  The  Church, 
spurred  on  by  the  influx  of  heresy  from  Saracen 
schools,  was  led  to  survey  carefully  the  relation  of 
the  principle  of  Christianity  to  the  world  of  man 
and  nature,  and  to  incorporate  the  whole  investiga- 
tion into  one  body  of  learning  under  the  head  of 
theology.  In  the  next  place,  the  needs  of  govern- 
ment on  the  secular  side  led  to  a  study  of  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice,  and,  attention  being  turned 
to  the  study  of  Roman  law,  the  Pandects  of  Justin- 
ian are  rediscovered  and  Irnerius  at  Bologna  initi- 
ates the  thorough  study  of  law  as  described  in  the 
eighth  lecture  of  this  history.  Theology  found  its 
center  at  Paris  (see  Lecture  IX).  Medicine  at  Sa- 
lerno had  the  honor  of  establishing  the  first  univer- 
sity in  the  modern  sense  of  an  institution  devoted 
to  special  studies  (Lectures  VI  and  VII).  The 
study  of  nature,  natural  science,  is  the  especial  de- 
partment  cultivated  in  this  body  of  learning.  The 
trivium  and  quadrivium    elevate    their  disciplines 


EDITOR'S -PREFACE.  xi 

into  philosophy,  which  takes  rank  as  one  of  the  four 
co-ordinate  "faculties"  in  the  modern  university; 
the  preparatory  work  done  in  the  primary  and  sec- 
ondary schools  falling  also  into  more  elementary 
stages  of  these  "  seven  liberal  arts." 

Another  phase  of  interest  in  this  history  is  that 
of  its  organization  and  methods  of  instruction.  Its 
independence  of  municipal  and  other  local  author- 
ity is  of  great  significance  in  its  influence  on  the 
growth  of  individual  liberty  and  a  spirit  of  personal 
independence.  Supported  by  the  most  general 
power  of  the  state,  and  even  by  the  spiritual  head 
of  all  Christendom,  the  university  developed  a  spirit 
of  free  thought  such  as  could  never  have  grown  so 
rapidly  under  the  control  of  local  authorities.  The 
congress  of  scholars  from  all  parts  of  the  world  led 
to  mutual  toleration  as  regards  national  peculiari- 
ties, and  the  rise  of  fraternal  sympathy  between  the 
learned  of  all  peoples.  The  method  of  instruction, 
whose  nerve  lay  in  debate  or  discussion — a  dialec- 
tic of  contending  minds — was  a  still  more  powerful 
incitement  to  free  thought.  The  student  was  com- 
pelled to  see  all  sides  of  his  subject,  and,  what  is 
more,  to  defend  them  by  marshalling  all  their  strong 
points.  In  the  history  of  the  methods  of  the  Jesuits, 
a  comparatively  recent  chapter  in  educational  his- 
tory, the  most  instructive  parts  are  those  that  re- 
late to  this  dialectic  contest,  and  to  the  strict  per- 
sonal surveillance  exercised  over  the  pupils.  The 
history  of  the  university  exhibits  both  of  these  in 
full  relief. 


xii  EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 

The  origin  of  degrees  and  their  significance  at 
different  periods  is  likewise  to  be  found  in  this  his- 
tory. The  A.  B.  and  A.  M.  degrees  relate  in  set 
terms  to  the  trivium  and  quadri'vium,  while  theol- 
ogy, law,  and  medicine  have  their  corresponding 
titles. 

Attention  is  to  be  called  to  the  auxiliary  influences 
on  the  student  which  flow  from  residence  in  colleges 
and  hostels  set  apart  from  the  community,  quite  as 
much  isolated,  in  fact,  as  the  monastery.  The  dress 
of  the  student,  too,  his  gown  and  cap,  accent  this 
isolation  from  the  current  life  of  his  people.  More- 
over, he  makes  this  separation  deeper  by  devoting 
most  of  his  strength  to  the  study  of  ancient  writers, 
and  revives  within  the  institution- ancient  manners 
and  customs  as  well  as  ancient  languages.  This 
self-alienation  {Selbstentfremdung  as  German  writers 
have  called  it)  is  the  most  powerful  of  all  influences 
on  the  character  of  the  student.  It  gives  him  the 
power  to  look  upon  the  civilization  of  his  people  in 
which  he  has  been  nurtured,  as  something  foreign 
to  himself,  and  hence  enables  him  to  study  it  or  see 
readily  its  peculiarities  and  take  a  survey  of  it  as  a 
whole.  This  is  an  important  mental  acquisition. 
But  if  the  residence  at  the  university  is  too  long- 
continued,  the  student  loses  his  elasticity,  and  can 
not  recover  his  practical  status  in  the  life  of  his 
people. 

Another  most  important  feature  of  the  univer- 
sity study  is  the  influence  for  conservatism — quite  a 
different  influence  from  the  one  developed  by  the 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE.  xiii 

dialectic  discussions  mentioned  above.  All  formal 
studies  tend  to  fix  the  character  and  convictions  be- 
cause they  relate  to  what  is  universal — to  what  is 
permanent  under  the  variable.  The  routine  of  the 
trivium  and  quadrivium  involves  much  memoriz- 
ing. All  memorizing  is  conservative  in  its  tend- 
ency. It  fills  the  mind  with  images  and  ideas  al- 
ready made  and  fixed. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  routine  work,  with  its 
memorizing,  deals  with  what  is  fundamental  in  the 
nature  of  the  world  and  of  reason  itself,  and  hence 
is  essentially  rational.  Although  its  conservatism 
opposes  the  advance  of  truth,  yet  it  holds  fast  to 
the  rational  which  the  world  has  already  achieved, 
and  this  body  of  truth  is  always  much  greater  than 
the  bulk  of  new  truths  discovered  in  any  one  gen- 
eration. 

In  the  following  analysis  of  the  contents  of  the 
lectures  of  this  volume,  I  have  endeavored  to  draw 
especial  attention  to  the  points  which  have  a  bear- 
ing on  these  important  aspects  of  the  history  of 
universities. 

W.  T.  Harris. 


CONTENTS 


LECTURE  PAGB 

I.  The  Romano-Hellenic  Schools  and  their  Decline  i 
II.  Influence  of  Christianity  on  Education,  and  Rise 

of  Christian  Schools 18 

III.  Charlemagne  and  the  Ninth  Century    ...  39 

IV.  Inner  Work  of  Christian  Schools  (a.  d.  450-1100)  54 
V.   Tenth  and  Eleventh  Centuries                ...  75 

VI.  Rise  of  Universities  (a.  d.  iioo)        ,        .        .        .91 
VII.  The  First  Universities — the  Schola  Salernitana 

and  the  University  of  Naples    ....    106 

VIII.   The  University  of  Bologna 124 

IX.  University  of  Paris 141 

X.  The  Terms    "Studium"   and    "  Universitas,"    and 

the  Constitution  of  Universities       .        .       .172 
XI.   Students,  their  Numbers  and   Discipline — Privi- 
leges of  Universities— Faculties        .        .       .195 
XII.  Graduation 214 

XIII.  Oxford  and  Cambridge 236 

XIV.  The  University  of  Prague  ..••..    255 
XV.  University  Studies  and  the  Conditions  of  Gradu- 
ation   268 


EDITOR'S  ANALYSIS. 


Lecture  I.  Romano-Hellenic  Schools  and  their  Decline. — The  in- 
fluence of  Athens.  The  meeting  of  the  Roman  and  Hellenic  streams 
of  culture  in  the  time  of  Augustus.  The  study  of  oratory  and  law. 
The  Sophists  and  rhetoricians  supplant  the  philosophers.  The  organi- 
zation of  academic  teachers  lax  under  Greek  but  strict  under  Roman 
rule.  Three  principal  chairs,  sophistics  or  rhetoric,  politics,  and  phi- 
losophy ;  the  salaries.  The  rivalry  of  Athens  and  Alexandria.  Ephem- 
eral brilliancy  of  schools  of  Rhodes,  Tarsus,  and  Halicarnassus.  A 
stream  of  learned  professors  went  out  from  Athens  to  instruct  in  re- 
mote provinces.  Alexandria  the  first  to  give  distinct  form  and  organi- 
zation to  a  u  university."  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa  were  connected  by 
it  in  their  intellectual  life.  Its  library,  in  the  Temple  of  Serapis,  con- 
taining 700,000  volumes,  was  founded  B.  c.  298  ;  burned,  A.  D.  640. 
The  Alexandrian  Museum,  with  portico,  lecture-rooms,  and  lodgings 
for  professors  ;  commons  ;  and  additional  colleges  ;  eminent  professors 
and  crowds  of  students  from  all  parts  of  the  earth,  the  prototype  of  the 
university  of  the  middle  ages.  Medicine,  law,  mathematics,  astrono- 
my, and  philosophy  were  cultivated  for  800  years.  University  instruc- 
tion at  Rome,  under  Vespasian  (69-79  A.  D.)  and  Hadrian  (1 17-138 
A.  D.),  in  the  Basilica  of  the  Temple  of  Peace,  called  the  Athenaeum ; 
Quintilian  occupied  a  chair,  with  salary  of  £700.  Schools  of  rhetoric 
were  established  in  provincial  towns.  The  course  of  study  in  the 
university,  as  found  at  Athens,  at  Alexandria,  and  at  Rome,  included 
the  trivium  (grammar,  rhetoric,  dialectic)  and  quadrivium  (arithmetic, 
geometry,  astronomy,  and  music) ;  designations  that  prevailed  from 
300  B.  c.     Note  especially  the  scope  of  these  branches — that  grammar 


xvi  EDITOR'S  ANALYSIS, 

included  criticism  and  history,  as  well  as  language ;  that  dialectic  in- 
cluded logic,  metaphysics,  ethics,  and  natural  philosophy.  At  Rome 
there  were  ten  chairs  for  grammar,  ten  for  Greek,  three  for  Latin 
rhetoric,  three  for  Greek  rhetoric,  three  for  philosophy,  four  for  Roman 
law.  Students,  fourteen  to  nineteen  years.  The  professors  through- 
out the  Roman  Empire  appointed  by  the  magistrates  and  honored  with 
dignities.  Preparation  required  for  university  studies  was  two  years 
under  the  grammaticus.  The  efforts  of  Constantine,  Julian,  Gratian, 
and  Valentinian,  to  stimulate  education.  Libraries  at  Rome,  estab- 
lished by  Julius  Caesar,  Augustus,  and  others.  Law  was  a  specialty  at 
the  universities  of  Rome  and  Berytus  ;  medicine  at  Alexandria.  Tend- 
ency of  studies  to  degenerate  into  empty  formalities.  As  late  as  400 
A.  D.  there  were  Romano-Hellenic  schools  of  rhetoric  and  grammar  in 
Africa ;  and  in  Gaul,  at  Marseilles,  Narbonne,  Bordeaux,  Aries,  Tou- 
louse, Poitiers,  Besancon,  Vienne,  Autun,  Lyons,  Rheims  ("  New 
Athens  "),  and  Treves.  At  Constantinople,  Theodosius  (a.  d.  379)  and 
Valentinian  organized  a  university  with  a  library  and  thirty-one  lect- 
urers, with  the  lecture-halls  at  the  Capitol,  in  the  seated  exedrcz  (por- 
ticoes). 

Lecture  II.  Influence  of  Christianity  on  Education  and  Rise  of 
Christian  Schools. — Under  Constantine  (321)  the  empire  became  Chris- 
tian by  profession.  Christianity  began  to  exercise  an  influence  on 
education  about  200  A.  D.,  and  at  first  discouraged  university  studies. 
By  the  time  of  Theodosius  (a.  d.  408),  Roman  law  was  the  only  serious 
study  remaining  outside  of  the  religious  studies  of  Christianity.  The 
edict  of  Justinian  (a.  d.  529)  closed  the  school  at  Athens.  Influence  of 
Christianity  on  human  sympathies,  the  sense  of  personal  responsibility, 
the  feeling  of  humility.  The  preparation  of  ministers  for  the  Church. 
The  Christian  conception  of  education  confined  first  to  abnegation  of 
the  world  and  acceptance  of  dogmas,  was  opposed  to  the  Greek  and 
Roman  "humanities,"  but  there  were  exceptional  men — Tertullian 
(a.  d.  245),  St.  Basil  (a.  d.  379),  St.  Augustine  (a.  d.  395),  St.  Jerome 
(A.  D.  420),  who  recognized  heathen  studies  as  necessary  for  mental  dis- 
cipline and  for  religious  uses.  Romano-Hellenic  schools  rapidly  die 
out  after  400  A.  D.,  except  a  few  (Edessa,  Nisibis,  Berytus,  etc.).  Cas- 
siodorus  endeavored  to  institute  a  monastic  college  in  540.  Catecheti- 
cal schools  at  Alexandria  (a.  d.  181),  and  elsewhere  prevalent  in  A.  D. 
400,   took  up   the   trivium  and  superseded  the  "  grammaticus."     St. 


EDITOR'S  ANALYSIS.  xvil 

Martin  at  Licuge  and  Tours  (a.  d.  372).  Cassian  founded  the  new 
Christian  education  (a.  d.  404)  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Victor  at  Mar- 
seilles. Contrast  between  Oriental  and  Western  monasticism — besides 
prayers,  there  should  be  labor  in  agriculture,  teaching,  and  charity. 
Extent  of  education — arithmetic,  reading  the  psalter,  and  music.  Arts 
and  sciences,  "vain  babblements."  St.  Benedict  (a.  d.  528)  followed 
with  the  monastery  at  Monte  Cassino,  making  Christian  education  a 
chief  object ;  novices  (from  seven  to  fourteen,  copying  manuscripts  of 
the  Bible  and  religious  writers).  Irish  education  cultivated  Greek  and 
Latin  literature  (a.  d.  600).  St.  Maur,  St.  Columban,  St.  Boniface, 
powerful  agents  of  civilization.  Venerable  Bede  (735),  Theodore  of 
Tarsus  (668-690),  Isidorus  of  Seville  (636,  "  Origines  Etymological "), 
Boethius,  Isidorus,  Martianus  Capella,  the  great  text-books,  600-1300. 

Lecture  III.  Charlemagne  and  the  Ninth  Century. — Charle- 
magne (742-814)  revived  learning  ;  learned  to  write  after  he  ascended 
the  throne  ;  invited  Leidrade,  of  Noricum,  and  Alcuin  of  York  ;  Claud 
Clement  and  John  Melrose  at  the  Palatine  School.  Promotion  prom- 
ised to  distinguished  scholars  without  reference  to  birth.  Charle- 
magne's instructions  for  the  reform  of  schools  ;  the  reasons  for  reform  ; 
the  ignorance  of  the  monks  and  priests  and  necessity  for  knowledge  of 
grammar  in  order  to  understand  the  images  and  tropes  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures.  Teachers  of  singing,  arithmetic,  and  grammar  imported 
from  Rome.  Theodulf  at  Orleans.  Elementary  instruction.  The 
Emperor's  collection  of  Gothic  songs;  Theodosian  Code.  Council  of 
Aachen  in  817  distinguished  between  cloister  and  exterior  schools. 
Charlemagne's  influence  on  the  founding  of  universities.  Alfred's  in- 
fluence on  English  schools,  goo. 

Lecture  IV.  Inner  Work  of  Christian  Schools  (450-1100). — Pri- 
mary instruction  begun  at  the  age  of  seven.  Alphabet,  syllables, 
words,  Latin  Psalter,  without  translating.  Writing  on  wax-covered 
tablets ;  pen  and  ink  and  parchment.  Arithmetic,  to  calculate  church 
festivals.  Latin  grammar  begun  after  the  Psalter.  Latin  used  in  con- 
versation. Secondary  instruction.  The  trivium  and  quadrivium  taught 
by  copying  from  dictation  ;  compendiums  of  them  written  in  form  of 
catechisms.  Grammars  of  Donatus  and  Priscian.  In  the  eleventh 
century  yEsop,  Virgil,  and  Prudentius  were  studied.  Greek  was  studied 
in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries  in  Irish  monasteries.  Little  attention  to 
rhetoric  in  the  schools  ;  but  six  points  to  be  observed  in  writing  a  let- 


xviii  EDITOR'S  ANALYSIS. 

ten  Refinements  in  methods  used  by  Bernard  de  Chartres ;  critical 
study  of  classic  authors.  Theodosian  Code  taught  after  800.  Higher 
instruction.  Dialectic  taught  from  Boethius,  Martianus  Capella,  Iso- 
dorus,  and  Cassiodorus  and  Porphyry's  introduction.  Arithmetic  taught 
with  Roman  numerals.  Geometry,  four  books  of  Euclid,  included 
geography.  Course  of  study  at  Rheims  (a.  d.  iooo)  included  Logic, 
Virgil,  Statius,  Terence,  Juvenal,  Persius,  Horace,  and  Lucan.  Analy- 
sis of  Martianus  Capella  ;  allegory  describing  the  seven  liberal  arts. 
Boethius  translates  Aristotle's  Prior  and  Posterior  Analytics,  the  Top- 
ics, and  Sophistica  Elenchi.  Isidore's  Etymologise  in  twenty  books 
treats  of  seven  liberal  arts — medicine,  church  history,  Biblical  criticism, 
laws,  natural  science,  a  Latin  lexicon,  etc.  In  the  cloister  schools  the 
pupils  were  taught  gratuitously.  Foundations  attached  to  cathedrals 
and  monasteries  for  the  instruction  of  poor  pupils  in  the  exterior  schools. 
"  Scholasticus  "  at  the  head  of  the  Cathedral  School,  a  canon.  Facul- 
tas  or  a  licentia  docendi  necessary  to  a  teacher.  Personal  supervision 
of  pupils  by  monks.  Discipline  severe  ;  induction  of  schoolmaster  by 
public  flogging.     Manuscripts  multiplied.     Women  educated. 

Lecture  V.  Tenth  and  Eleventh  Centuries. — John  Scotus  Eri- 
gena,  in  the  Palace  School  under  Charles  the  Bald,  starts  the  scholas- 
tic movement.  Guibert  de  Nogent's  picture  of  education.  The  year 
1000  to  end  the  world.  The  order  of  chivalry  ;  honor,  fidelity,  and 
love.  Mohammedan  schools  and  libraries  at  Bagdad,  Cordova,  Cairo, 
and  Alexandria.  Avicenna  and  Averrhoes  ;  Aristotle  and  Euclid. 
Medical  science  came  to  the  Saracens  through  a  Nestorian  Greek. 
Arabian  schools  in  Balkh,  Ispahan,  and  Samarcand. 

Lecture  VI.  Rise  of  Universities  (a.  d.  iioo). — Scotus  Erigena, 
Anselm,  and  Roscelinus  advocated  the  claims  of  reason  and  philosophy 
in  religion,  and  inaugurated  the  era  of  universities.  The  chartering  of 
cities  developed  civil  freedom  ;  cities  established  schools  ;  Bologna, 
Milan,  Brescia,  Florence,  in  Italy  ;  Lubeck,  Hamburg,  Breslau,  Nord- 
hausen,  Stettin,  Leipsic,  and  Niirnberg,  in  Germany.  Native  language 
taught  in  city  schools.  Influence  of  the  universal  domination  of  the 
Catholic  Church  in  making  a  commonwealth  of  Europe,  through  the 
Latin  language,  the  protection  for  traveling  clerics,  hospitia  in  monas- 
teries. Studia  publica  or  generalia  arise  from  the  old  Episcopal  schools 
founded  on  the  old  imperial  provincial  foundations,  at  Bologna,  Paris, 
Rheims,  and  Naples.     The  Benedictine  schools  at  St.  Galle,  Bologna, 


EDITOR'S  ANALYSIS.  xix 

Paris,  Salernum,  Bee,  Rheims,  and  Oxford,  in  the  eleventh  century, 
were  universities  after  a  sort.  Anselm,  at  Bee  (1033-1108),  had  been 
student  and  prior.  The  university  a  natural  development  of  the  ca- 
thedral and  Benedictine  monastery  schools,  stimulated  by  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Saracenic  schools  at  Bagdad,  Babylon,  Alexandria,  and 
Cordova.  The  university  life  of  Greece,  with  its  study  of  Aristotle, 
Galen,  and  Hippocrates,  passed  to  the  Saracens,  and  was  neglected 
by  Christian  education  until  the  eleventh  centuiy.  Specialization,  de- 
manded by  the  growing  mass  of  learning  in  the  leading  studies,  medi- 
cine, law,  and  philosophy,  together  with  the  rise  of  an  antimonastic 
feeling  in  the  learned  professions,  combined  with  other  causes  to  de- 
velop the  schools  already  existing  into  universities.  The  universities 
were  special  schools  opposed  to  the  schools  of  the  seven  liberal  arts, 
though  their  course  of  instruction  was  founded  on  the  schools  of  arts  ; 
moreover,  they  were  open  to  all  students  without  regard  to  religious 
rank.  The  non-religious  character  of  the  universities  led  to  much 
license  at  first.  At  Paris  the  secular  power  dominated  over  the  eccle- 
siastical. The  university  differed  from  the  school  of  arts  (a),  in  giving 
instruction  (discipline)  in  law,  medicine,  and  theology  ;  (3),  in  accessi- 
bility as  to  place  ;  (c)t  in  being  founded  by  popes  and  kings  and  general 
rulers  instead  of  local  ones  ;  (</),  in  having  special  privileges,  pecuniary 
and  legal ;  (*r),  in  being  republics  of  letters  (Bulseus — Professor  Laurie 
dissents  from  him  in  second  and  third  items).  Studium  generate  de- 
fined as  a  privileged,  higher,  and  specialized  school,  open  to  all  the 
world,  free  from  monastic  or  canonical  rule,  and  self-governing.  The 
trade-guilds  exercised  a  powerful  influence  on  the  university  consti- 
tution. 

k  Lecture  VII.  The  First  Universities. — The  name  university  not 
applied  in  ancient  times,  nor  in  modern  times,  until  two  centuries  after 
studia  generalia  arose.  The  teaching  of  the  Sophists  of  Greece  culmi- 
nated in  the  rhetorical  school  of  Isocrates,  which  may  be  regarded  as 
the  germ  of  the  university,  ancient  and  modern.  But  the  university  of 
the  twelfth  century  quickened  by  the  Saracenic  impulse.  Men  of  emi- 
nence began  to  give  instruction  at  Salerno  in  medicine,  and  in  law  at 
Bologna,  and  pupils  flocked  to  them  to  get  special  instruction.  The 
Church  gave  the  new  movement  its  blessing.  In  1100  Irnerius  was 
beginning  to  lecture  at  Bologna  on  civil  law,  and  before  iico  at  Saler- 
no medicine  was  taught ;  at  Paris,  theology — a  practical  end  besides  a 


XX  EDITOR'S  ANALYSIS. 

specialized  one  was  attained  by  the  university.  The  school  of  Salerno, 
the  "  fountain  of  medicine,"  located  near  Monte  Cassino  of  St.  Bene- 
dict. The  books  of  Galen  and  Hippocrates  were  transcribed  at  the 
monastery  and  translated  into  Latin  before  560.  The  monks  famous 
for  knowledge  of  medicine.  Constantine  of  Carthage  took  refuge  at 
Salernum,  learned  in  medicine  ;  died  at  the  monastery,  1087.  Students 
came  from  Italy,  France,  and  Germany,  also  Jews  and  Moors,  to  hear 
Constantine  lecture.  The  collegium  of  Salerno  founded  1160,  the  pri- 
orate  before  1100.  In  1137  the  first  state  examinations  in  medicine 
and  licenses  given  (licencia  medendi).  Penalty  for  practising  with- 
out license.  The  University  of  Naples  founded  in  1224  by  Frederick 
II.,  who  enacted  that  the  three  faculties  should  be  added  to  the  School 
of  Arts,  and  incorporated  it  as  "  Universitas  Studiorum,"  under  royal 
sanction  and  protection,  with  professors,  and  with  salaries  ;  and  prohib- 
ited other  schools  from  competition,  and  other  people  from  using  the 
title  professor ;  empowered  the  high  chancellor  to  grant  licenses  to 
those  who  received  a  certificate  from  the  faculty  ;  freed  the  professors 
from  taxes  and  military  service  ;  gave  the  university  municipal  author- 
ity over  students.  Physicians  were  required  to  promise  to  give  their 
services  to  the  poor  gratuitously  by  Hippocrates,  400  B.  c. ;  the  same 
promise  exacted  by  the  University  of  Salerno. 

Lecture  VIII.  The  University  of  Bologna. — There  were  schools 
of  law  at  Rome,  Constantinople,  and  Berytus.  Justinian  endowed  the 
one  at  Rome,  554.  The  Pandects  and  Code  of  Justinian  and  the  Insti- 
tutes were  taught  through  the  middle  ages,  but  the  Theodosian  Code 
was  taught  north  of  the  Alps.  Irnerius  (Werner)  edited  the  Pandects, 
and  became  Professor  of  Civil  Law  (1070-1138) ;  lectured  to  flocks  of 
students.  The  old  Roman  School  of  Arts  at  Bologna  had  never  died 
out.  Irnerius  taught  the  trivium  and  quadrivium  before  he  taught  law. 
Frederick  I.,  1158.  recognized  the  universitas  of  Bologna  as  one  already 
existing.  In  1200  there  were  10,000  students  at  Bologna  and  20,000 
later  on.  The  universitas  citra  montanorum  (1210)  had  seventeen  na- 
tions; the  ultra  montanorum  had  eighteen.  Each  elected  its  own  rector, 
and  each  nation  its  procurator.  The  Pope  recognized  universities  and 
confirmed  their  privileges,  but  did  not  found  them.  Canon  law  added 
to  the  coarse  at  Bologna  about  1150,  and  schools  of  arts  and  medicine, 
1316 ;  theology  in  1360. 

Lecture  IX.     University  of  Paris. — The  Art-School  of  Notre 


EDITOR'S  ANALYSIS.  Xxi 

Dame  preceded  the  University  of  Paris.  In  the  eleventh  century  a 
learned  monk,  William  of  Champeaux,  taught  theology  at  Paris,  and 
was  succeeded  by  Abelard,  a  pupil  of  Roscelin,  nominalist,  in  1 113. 
The  School  of  Arts  had  flourished  since  Charlemagne's  time,  but  it  be- 
came a  studium  generale  in  the  time  of  William  of  Champeaux  and 
Abelard,  about  1 140,  having  privileges  conferred  upon  it  by  Louis  VII. 
and  Pope  Alexander  III.  Peter  the  Lombard  lectured  there  in  1145- 
1159.  "Quartier  Latin"  inhabited  by  masters  and  scholars.  In  1348 
there  were  514  regents  in  arts,  besides  other  faculties.  Students  young  ; 
twelve  years  of  age.  Law  and  medicine  not  taught  at  Paris  at  first. 
Kings  and  popes  protect  the  university  against  the  civil  authorities, 
even  when  it  is  the  aggressor.  Four  nations  at  Paris.  Self-govern- 
ment in  the  universities. 

Lecture  X.  The  Constitution  of  Universities. — A  studium  gene- 
rale  or  publicum,  an  art-school,  and  open  to  both  seculars  and  ecclesias- 
tics. Studium  generale  gave  place  to  the  universitas.  The  term  uni- 
versitas  used  by  the  popes  in  addressing  teachers  and  scholars  and 
meaning  simply  the  whole  community,  it  was  applied  to  the  whole 
Church  of  Britain  ;  applied  also  to  towns  or  organized  communia.  It 
meant  incorporated  community.  Cities  and  towns  and  trades-unions  in 
the  eleventh  century  were  organizing  and  seeking  charters  to  protect 
themselves  from  the  feudal  and  episcopal  influences.  So  the  new  uni- 
versities, too,  sought  incorporation.  The  jurors  of  the  guilds  examined 
apprentices  and  initiated  masters.  Copying  the  free-trade  guilds,  the 
students  elect  procurators,  or  consilarii,  and  the  latter  elect  a  rector. 
They  kept  monks  out  of  the  rectorship.  Even  in  the  pre-Christian 
schools  of  Athens  there  was  a  classification  of  students  into  nations. 
The  universities  with  their  specialized  schools  initiated  that  scientific 
spirit  which  led  to  freedom.  The  Masters  of  Arts  in  Paris  held  exclu- 
sively the  power,  and  the  students  did  not  share  in  it.  Scottish  uni- 
versities have  mediaeval  organization  :  (1)  students  ;  (2)  graduates  ;  (3) 
professors  ;  (4)  rector ;  (5)  chancellor — the  senatus  academicus  is  the 
governing  body,  composed  of  the  principal  and  professors  of  the  four 
faculties. 

/  Lecture  XI.  Students,  their  Numbers  and  Discipline  ;  Privileges 
of  Universities ;  Faculties. — Twenty  thousand  students  at  Bologna, 
thirty  thousand  at  Paris  or  Oxford — the  numbers  exaggerated.  The 
attendants,  servants,  college  cooks,  etc.,  were  members  of  the  universi- 


Xxii  EDITOR'S  ANALYSIS, 

tas,  because  in  the  same  municipal  corporation  ;  the  students  included 
also  boys  twelve  to  fifteen  years  of  age.  Monasteries  of  Benedictine  and 
Augustinian  orders  were  required  to  send  one  student  to  the  univer- 
sity for  each  twenty  of  their  residents.  The  students  were  disciplined 
by  the  masters  and  rector.  Vespasian  the  first  who  paid  salaries  of 
professors  out  of  the  public  treasury.  The  clergy  exempt  from  public 
service  and  from  taxes.  In  the  middle  ages  every  class  of  men,  every 
district,  every  city,  tried  to  isolate  itself  within  a  jurisprudence  of  its 
own.  "  Clericus  "  applied  to  priests  and  also  to  all  educated  people. 
"  Faculty "  signified  a  special  department  of  knowledge,  and  then  it 
came  to  mean  a  specific  body  teaching  a  range  of  subjects  in  the  uni- 
versity. The  rise  of  the  faculties  connected  with  the  graduation  sys- 
tem. Theological  faculty  at  Paris,  1259 ;  medical,  1265  ;  law,  1271  ; 
each  faculty  elected  its  dean.  The  Faculty  of  Arts  hold  precedence. 
In  the  fourteenth  century,  15  universities  founded ;  in  the  fifteenth,  29. 
Lecture  XII.  Graduation. — The  right  to  teach  (doctor)  or  to 
practise  medicine  (licencia  medendi)  were  the  first  degrees.  The 
Valentinian  edict  of  329  prohibited  orators  and  professors,  who  were 
not  approved  by  the  best  judges,  from  travelling  as  teachers.  The 
Theodosian  Code  calls  the  higher  teachers  "professors,"  or"magis- 
tri "  or  "  doctores."  In  the  thirteenth  century  the  chancellor  or  scholas- 
ticus  of  a  cathedral  granted  a  licencia  or  facultas  docendi.  The  guilds 
composed  of  apprentices,  assistants  or  companions  and  masters.  The 
degree  of  "  Baccalaureus  Artium  "  had  been  granted  in  Paris,  for  three 
or  four  years'  study  of  the  trivium  (bacca,  for  vacca,  a  cow,  hence  cow- 
boy or  herdsman,  serving  under  a  colonus  or  farmer).  A.  B.  reached  at 
seventeen  or  eighteen,  and  had  a  prospective  signification.  "  Bacha- 
larius "  adopted  by  Bologna  1297,  after  one  year's  study  of  law. 
"Doctor"  and  "magister"  equivalent  degrees  established  at  the  end  of 
the  twelfth  or  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century  ;  in  theology,  earlier. 
In  Germany  no  "  masters,"  but  all  "  doctors."  The  authority  that  con- 
ferred the  degree  was  the  masters  or  the  chancellor.  Degrees  in  sin- 
gle subjects  given  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  Bachelor  never  known  as 
an  arts  degree  in  Italy.  Baccalarius  marked  the  completion  of  the 
work  of  the  secondary  or  trivial  schools.  The  next  step  was  the  in- 
troduction of  the  degrees  of  "  bachelor,"  "  master,"  and  "  doctor,"  into 
the  three  faculties.  The  bachelor  course  (in  France  and  England)  a 
trivium  course.     In  Paris  magistri  regentes  and  non-regentes  (teach- 


EDITOR'S  ANALYSIS.  xxiii 

ing  or  not).  British  universities  recognize  the  double  function  of 
teaching  schools  and  also  academic  institutes.  If  the  professor  does 
not  investigate  himself,  he  will  look  coldly  on  young  aspirants  in  the 
field  of  investigation.  Not  culture  but  the  promotion  of  science  is  the 
end  of  the  university.  "  A  man  who  thinks  himself  supreme  or  pre- 
cious, and  who  spends  his  life  in  turning  pretty  phrases,  when  not 
engaged  in  admiration  of  his  own  exclusive  intellectual  possessions,"  is 
"  cultured."  "  The  culture  of  the  few  and  the  disciplining  of  the  many 
is  not  the  object  of  a  university,  but  the  equipment  of  the  arts  and 
sciences,  and  the  sustenance  of  those  who  pursue  them  from  the  pure 
love  of  knowledge  and  in  the  interests  of  mankind." 

Lecture  XIII.  Oxford  and  Cambridge. — Schools  in  a  priory  at 
Oxford  in  800  ;  and  also  at  Ely.  The  origin  of  Cambridge  and  Ox- 
ford. Oxford  passed  from  a  Benedictine  arts-school  to  a  university 
about  1 149,  when  Vacarius  lectured  on  civil  law.  Henry  III.  sum- 
mons Parliament  to  meet  at  Oxford,  1258.  University  college,  1232. 
Robert  Grosstete.  Migration  from  Paris  to  Oxford,  1228.  Paris  the 
great  centre  in  the  thirteenth  century  ;  its  anarchy.  Secession  from 
Oxford  of  three  thousand  masters  and  students  in  1209  to  Reading  and 
Cambridge.  In  1400  thirty-two  schools  or  hostels  at  Oxford.  A  chan- 
cellor instead  of  a  rector  at  Cambridge,  and  possessing  powers  inde- 
pendent of  the  regents.  Two  procurators  or  proctors,  called  also  rec- 
tors, at  Cambridge.  Oxford  the  ecclesiastical ;  Cambridge  the  mathe- 
matical and  practical.  Halls  and  colleges,  hostels  or  hospitia,  for  stu- 
dents' hotels  or  boarding  in  commons.  In  1263  hospitia  at  Bologna  ;  in 
1200  at  Paris.  "  Colleges  "  were  for  religious  orders.  The  Sorbonne 
founded  in  1250  for  fellows  of  theology.  College  of  Navarre  in  1304. 
Thirty  colleges  founded  in  the  thirteenth  century  in  Paris,  increased 
to  seventy  or  eighty  in  all.  In  1452  masters  and  medical  faculty  in 
Paris  permitted  to  marry.  Students'  clubs  at  Cambridge  in  "  Inns," 
"Entries,"  "  Halls."  The  monastic  institutions  at  Paris,  Oxford,  and 
Cambridge  were  colleges  in  effect — a  college  being  primarily  a  corpora- 
tion of  individuals  having  a  common  purpose  (a  body  of  persons  and 
not  a  mere  building)  ;  next  it  was  used  to  signify  an  endowed  hall. 
Eighty  halls  at  Oxford,  the  highest  number,  but  decreased  as  the  col- 
leges increased.  Colleges  introduced  to  supplant  the  monasteries. 
Walter  de  Merton,  Chancellor  of  England,  1264,  founds  Merton  Col- 
lege, which  furnished  the  model  for  succeeding  colleges  at  Oxford  and 


xxiv  EDITOR'S  ANALYSIS. 

Cambridge  ;  plan  of  Merton  copied  from  the  Sorbonne  ;  for  the  secu- 
lar students,  "  for  scholars  devoted  to  the  pursuits  of  literature,  ...  to 
the  study  of  arts  or  philosophy,  theology,  or  canon  law."  From  Mer- 
ton went  Duns  Scotus,  William  of  Occam,  Thomas  Bradwardine. 
"  Fellows  "  defined. 

Lecture  XIV.  The  University  of  Prague. — The  starting-point  of 
the  great  German  system  of  universities.  Founded  in  1348  by  Charles 
IV.  Copied  Paris,  where  he  had  been  a  student.  The  Pope  issued  a 
bull,  giving  validity  to  its  degrees,  and  appointed  Archbishop  of  Prague 
the  chancellor.  Four  faculties  and  four  nations.  The  rector  could  not 
belong  to  a  religious  order.  The  rector  held  civil  and  criminal  court 
twice  a  week.  University  council  of  eight  members,  two  from  each  na- 
tion, elected  semi-annually.  Prague  became  (like  Paris)  a  "  universitas 
magistrorum  "  (the  students  having  no  part  in  the  government).  Deans 
chosen  by  the  faculties.  Degrees  of  bachelor,  master  (in  theology  and 
arts),  doctor  (law  and  medicine).  Bachelor  to  give  lessons  for  two 
years  in  the  university,  accept  no  degree  from  another  university  ;  de- 
gree conferred  by  the  faculty  and  not  by  the  chancellor.  Master's  de- 
gree conferred  by  the  chancellor.  Law  faculty  separate.  Students  to 
attend  at  least  three  lectures  per  week.  Writing  from  dictation.  A  doc- 
tor regens  called  ''professor."  Disputations  on  Tuesdays  and  Thurs- 
days ;  bachelors  always  present.  Grand  disputation  in  January — all 
regent  masters  take  part.  Course  in  the  arts  completed  before  enter- 
ing the  higher  faculties.  Order  of  precedence  :  theology,  law,  medi- 
cine, the  arts.  Deans  not  a  part  of  the  governing  body  of  the  univer- 
sity. Secession  from  Prague  in  1409  of  Germans  to  Vienna,  Erfurt, 
Heidelberg,  and  Leipsic.  1 100  to  1300,  10  universities  founded;  four- 
teenth century,  18 ;  fifteenth  century,  29,  including  3  Scotch. 

Lecture  XV.  University  Studies  and  the  Conditions  of  Gradua- 
tion.— Trivium  still  used  for  bachelor's  degree  in  universities,  being 
handed  down  to  them  from  the  monastic  and  cathedral  schools  of  early 
times.  Not  much  could  be  done  in  grammar,  rhetoric,  and  dialec- 
tic by  boys  of  seventeen  or  eighteen  or  even  younger.  Excellence 
of  Bernard  of  Chartres's  teaching.  (See  also  page  60.)  Grammars  of 
Donatus  and  Priscian  learned  by  heart  at  monastic  and  cathedral 
schools  ;  dictated  and  explained  first.  Priscian  versified  by  Villedieu, 
1200;  remained  text-book  till  1550.  Dialectic  and  rhetoric  taught 
from  Epitomes.     Cicero,  Virgil,  etc.,  read  as  illustrations  of  grammar. 


EDITOR'S  ANALYSIS.  '  XXV 

The  trivium  very  arid  and  formal,  but  the  true  intellectual  life  was 
found  in  three  faculties — law,  theology,  and  medicine — which  cultivated 
acuteness  of  mind,  loosened  old  convictions,  and  laid  the  foundations 
of  modem  rationalism.  Daily  programme  :  regent  met  pupils  at  sun- 
rise, noon,  and  toward  evening.  One  of  these  daily  sessions  devoted 
to  definition  ("  determination  ")  and  disputation.  No  books  owned  by 
pupils,  hence  much  memory -work.  Robert  Courcon  (1200)  on  the  re- 
quirements for  mastership  :  Aristotle's  dialectic,  ethics,  and  fourth  book 
of  Topics  ;  Priscian's  grammar ;  treatises  on  philosophy,  rhetoric, 
mathematics,  and  grammar  (Metaphysics  and  Physics  of  Aristotle  not 
allowed  at  first).  Petrus  Hispanus's  logic.  Text-book  in  theology, 
Peter  the  Lombard's  Sentences,  which  were  compiled  from  previous 
collections  of  sentences  that  had  come  down  through  various  hands  ; 
after  11 50  it  became  the  universal  text-book  of  philosophy  as  well  as 
theology,  the  pupils  copying  it  from  dictation  and  discussing  it,  the 
master  commenting  on  it.  In  1257  the  religious  orders  of  Paris  se- 
cured the  adoption  of  their  cloister  schools  into  the  university.  The 
"  Decretum,"  a  digest  of  canon  law  in  1157.  About  the  same  time  the 
Pandects  became  the  text-book.  Even  idle  discussions  were  a  vast  im- 
provement on  the  mere  memoriter  learning  that  had  preceded.  After 
Aquinas  and  Duns  Scotus,  theology  became  metaphysics,  and  the  ef- 
fort was  to  reconcile  authority  and  reason.  After  the  elements  of 
grammar,  logic,  and  rhetoric,  the  pupil  defined  terms  and  propositions 
and  defended  them  before  examiners,  and  was  given  the  bachelor's  de- 
gree ;  changed  hie  square  cap  for  a  round  one,  and  began  to  teach 
freshmen.  After  the  age  of  twenty-one  and  six  years'  study  in  arts, 
the  master's  degree  given  on  examination.  Course  in  theology  five 
years  to  fit  for  giving  private  lectures  ;  eight  years'  preparation  for 
public  lectures  (1294).  Euclid  only  to  Proposition  5,  Book  I.  (Roger 
Bacon's  authority),  and  for  three  hundred  years  after  only  six  books 
were  learned.  Repetition  at  Bologna :  the  discussion  of  all  possible 
difficulties  and  objections  suggested  by  some  point  in  the  text.  One 
year  of  work  at  repetitio  made  a  bachalarius  ;  eight  years  in  all  re- 
quired for  a  mastership.  Wrote  criticisms  on  two  texts,  etc.  Hat, 
ring,  and  book  the  insignia  presented  to  the  new  doctor.  Few  gram- 
mar-schools in  England  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  hence 
boys  of  eleven  and  twelve  years  went  directly  to  Oxford  and  Cambridge, 
as  at  Paris.      This   destroyed   the   cathedral  schools  and  monastery 


xxvi  EDITOR'S  ANALYSIS. 

schools.  At  fourteen  a  boy  was  fitted  for  college,  and  came  under  a 
master  for  four  years  to  fit  for  "  determinations  "  or  B.  A.  degree. 
"  Responsions  "  was  the  half-way  examination  in  grammar  and  arith- 
metic. He  was  called  "  sophista  generalis  "before  "Responsions," 
and  M  questionist "  after  until  the  second  examination,  which  was  in 
logic  and  rhetoric.  A  "bachelor"  in  England  studied  three  years 
geometry,  astronomy,  and  philosophy  (physics,  ethics,  and  metaphysics). 
A  master  read  portions  of  these  for  discussion.  The  humanism  at  the  end 
of  the  thirteenth  century  reappeared  in  full  force  at  the  end  of  the  fif- 
teenth century,  aided  by  printing.  Disputation  favored  free  thought, 
because  one  side  had  to  be  opposed  to  the  orthodox  view.  M  North 
American  Review  "  on  colleges  :  "  They  fit  persons  for  professions, 
teachers,  authors,  legislators  for  the  people."  Universities  responsible 
to  the  people,  because  endowed  with  privileges  received  from  them. 
Should  be  dedicated  to  advancement  of  arts  and  sciences  at  large. 
"  Oxford  and  Cambridge  mere  schools  where  gymnasium  work  is  pro- 
longed," according  to  Dollinger.  "  If  any  man  thinks  philosophy  and 
universality  to  be  idle  studies,  he  doth  not  consider  that  all  professions 
are  from  thence  served  and  supplied  "  (Bacon). 


PREFACE. 


THIS  book  is  not  addressed  to  historical  experts,  but 
to  schoolmasters  and  others  who  wish  to  know  some- 
thing about  mediaeval  education  and  the  rise  of 
universities.  The  Lectures  are,  in  fact,  part  of  my 
historical  course  which  I  cannot  find  time  or  occasion 
to  deliver,  as  I  think  it  better  to  confine  my  public 
instructions  to  those  historical  aspects  of  education 
which  convey  practical  lessons  suited  to  the  school- 
room. 

While  I  do  not  profess  to  instruct  historical 
experts,  I  am  yet  quite  prepared  to  defend  the  views 
which  I  venture  to  put  forth,  as  at  least  the  honest 
result  of  considerable  reading  and  much  labour  of 
collation.  To  some  I  may  seem,  when  dealing  with 
university  origins,  to  lean  too  much  towards  the  "  lay  " 
views  of  Meiners  ;  to  others  I  may  seem  to  incline  to 
the  "  ecclesiastical "  views  of  those  who  are  represented 


yxvin  PREFACE. 

by  the  inadequate  and  ill-constructed  book  of  Huber. 
I  can  only  say  that  the  theory  which  I  expound  is 
based  on  a  careful  induction.  Perhaps  I  ought  to 
have  no  theory  at  all  ;  but  it  seems  to  me  that 
history,  as  distinguished  from  chronicles  or  annals, 
must  always  contain  a  theory,  whether  confessed  by 
the  writer  or  not.  It  may  not  be  put  prominently 
forward,  but  it  lurks  in  the  pages  and  may  be  read 
between  the  lirifcs.  A  sound  theory  is  simply  a 
general  conception  which  co-ordinates  and  gives  unity 
and  a  causal  relation  to  a  multitude  of  facts.  With- 
out this,  facts  cease  to  have  interest  except  for  the 
antiquarian. 

The  manuscript  has  been  so  long  before  me,  and 
so  frequently  altered  as  my  knowledge  of  the  subject 
extended,  that  it  is  difficult  for  me  now  to  give  all  my 
"sources."  But  I  may  mention  that  for  the  general 
history  of  the  period  I  have  read  the  usual  authorities 
— Gibbon,  Milman,  Merivale,  Guizot,  Hallam,  Sis- 
mondi,  Sharon  Turner,  Freeman,  Green,  and  Skene. 
All  important  references  I  have  myself  verified. 
When  I  draw  from  accessible  works,  such  as  the 
Theodosian  Code,  it  is  from  my  own  analysis  of  the 
"  Titles  "  which  bear  on  education,  and  not  at  second 
hand ;  when  I  refer  to  Martianus  Capella,  Boethius, 


PREFACE.  XX1X 

or  Isidore,  I  do  so  as  personally  cognizant  of  at 
least  the  scope  of  their  works,  and  have  them  open 
before  me. 

In  dealing  with  the  three  primary  universities,  I 
have  based  what  I  say  on  a  careful  and  independent 
study  of  Ackermann  for  Salernum,  of  Crevier  for 
Paris,  of  Savigny  for  Bologna,  of  Tomek  for  Prague, 
of  Mullinger  and  Anstey's  "Mon.  Acad."  for  Cam- 
bridge and  Oxford ;  I  have  also  read  the  general 
accounts  of  Meiners,  Huber,  etc.  Bulaeus  and  Wood 
have  been  at  hand  for  reference.  Lacroix's  "  Middle 
Ages,"  Brentano's  "  Guilds,"  and  Villivry's  "  Histoire 
de  Tlnstruction  publique"  I  have  found  of  value,  if  used 
with  discretion.  Newman,  Montalembert,  Mabillon 
("De  Studiis  Monasticis"),  Cramer,  and  Warton  have 
been  called  into  requisition ;  as  also  Capes'  "  Uni- 
versity Life  in  Athens,"  and  Kirkpatrick's  "The 
University. '  For  monastic  studies  I  have  been  much 
indebted  to  Dr.  Specht's  "Geschichte  des  Unter- 
richtswesen  in  Deutschland,"  which  deals  with  the 
Middle  Ages  only. 

The  excellent  treatise  on  the  "  Schools  of  Charles 
the  Great,"  by  Mr.  Mullinger,  came  into  my  hands 
(after  repeated  attempts  to  procure  it)  only  when  I  had 
begun  to  print,  but  I  read  it  carefully  and  found  that 


XXX  PREFACE. 

my  own  view  concurred  substantially  with  his.    I  was 

glad  to  import  from  his  pages  into  my  own  a  few 

quotations  and  references,  and  thus  take  advantage  of 

a  learning  to  which  I  could  not  pretend.     In  addition 

to  the  authorities  already  cited,  I  went  through  *  Itterus 

de  Gradibus  sive  Honoribus  Academicis " — a  prolix, 

clumsy,  and  confused,  but  useful,  treatise.     The  books 

to  which  I  have  merely  referred  on  specific  points, 

such  as  the  writings  of  John  of  Salisbury,  are  very 

numerous. 

S.  S.  L. 

University  of  Edinburgh, 
September ■,  1886. 

NOTE. — I  ought  almost  to  apologize  to  the  reader 
for  having  failed  to  study  a  recent  work — "Die 
Entstehung  der  Universitaten  des  Mittelalters  bis 
1400,"  by  P.  H.  Denifle.  It  came  into  my  hands 
only  the  other  day,  when  correcting  my  second  proofs. 
I  suspended  printing  till  I  had  read  cursorily  the  most 
of  it  I  was  pleased  to  find  that  the  authors  general 
views  were  already  to  a  considerable  extent  antici- 
pated by  me.  The  work  is  the  most  learned  that 
has  yet  appeared  on  the  subject  of  universities ;  it  is 
also,  unfortunately,  the  most  polemical.  The  only 
change  of  moment  which  he  has  led  me  to  make  is  in 


PREFACE.  XXXI 

the  place  to  be  assigned  to  the  Rector  and  nations  at 
Paris.  His  arguments  on  this  question  seem  to  me 
to  be  irresistible.  I  have  also  checked  many  of  my 
statements  by  his.  Any  more  detailed  use  of  the 
volume  must  be  reserved  for  a  second  edition  of  these 
Lectures,  when  Denifle  probably  will  have  completed 
his  laborious  task* 


MEDLEVAL  EDUCATION 
AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

LECTURE    I. 

THE  ROMANO-HELLENIC  SCHOOLS  AND  THEIR 
DECLINE. 

*  Looking  at  Athens/'  says  Newman,*  "  as  the 
preacher  and  missionary  of  letters,  and  as  enlisting 
the  whole  Greek  race  in  her  work,  who  is  not 
struck  with  admiration  at  the  range  and  multiplicity 
of  her  operations?  At  first  the  Ionian  and  ^Eolian 
cities  were  the  principal  scene  of  her  activity,  but 
if  we  look  on  a  century  or  two,  we  shall  find  that 
she  forms  the  intellect  of  the  colonies  of  Sicily  and 
Magna  Graecia ;  has  penetrated  Italy,  and  is  shedding 
the  light  of  philosophy  and  awakening  thought  in 
the  cities  of  Gaul  by  means  of  Marseilles,  and  along 
the  coast  of  Africa  by  means  of  Cyrene.  She  has 
sailed  up  both   sides   of  the   Euxine  and  deposited 

*  "Historical  Sketches,"  vol.  iii. 


2     MEDIALVAL  education  and  universities. 

her  literary  wares  where  she  stopped,  as  traders 
nowadays  leave  samples  of  foreign  merchandise,  or 
as  war-steamers  land  muskets  and  ammunition,  or 
as  agents  for  religious  societies  drop  their  tracts  or 
scatter  their  versions.  The  whole  of  Asia  Minor  and 
Syria  resounds  with  her  teaching;  the  barbarians  of 
Parthia  are  quoting  fragments  of  her  tragedians ; 
Greek  manners  are  introduced  and  perpetuated  on 
the  Hydaspes  and  Acesines ;  Greek  coins,  lately  come 
to  light,  are  struck  in  the  capital  of  Bactriana ;  and 
so  charged  is  the  moral  atmosphere  of  the  East  with 
Greek  civilization,  that  down  to  this  day  those  tribes 
are  said  to  show  to  most  advantage  which  can  claim 
relation  of  place  or  kin  wTith  Greek  colonies  established 
there  above  two  thousand  years  ago." 

In  the  time  of  Augustus,  the  Roman  and  Hel- 
lenic educational  streams  had  met.  The  education  we 
have  thenceforth  to  speak  of  is,  in  truth,  the  education 
neither  of  Greece  nor  Rome,  but  of  the  civilized 
portion  of  the  Roman  empire.  In  the  Western 
empire  at  least,  if  not  elsewhere,  we  discern  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  specifically  Roman  influence.  Oratory, 
as  defined  by  Quintilian  in  its  practical  political 
relations,  and  law  as  an  imperial  system,  steadied,  so 
to  speak,  the  more  general  Hellenic  aim.  In  the 
East  there  was  more  vivacity  but  less  solidity.  For  a 
couple  of  hundred  years  after  the  death  of  Isocrates, 
Peripatetic  and  Academic,  Stoic  and  Epicurean, 
taught  crowds  of  ardent  youth,  each  professor  having 


ROMANO-HELLENIC  SCHOOLS,  3 

a  fervent  belief  in  his  own  philosophy.  But  in  the 
midst  of  these  philosophic  teachers,  the  sophist,  as 
mere  rhetorician,  was  steadily  gaining  ascendency, 
and  even  so  early  as  the  first  century  of  our  era,  philo- 
sophical studies  were  pursued  rather  as  a  discipline 
of  mind  than  as  a  theory  of  knowledge  and  life. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  this  decline,  which  began 
before  the  birth  of  Christ,  and  which  steadily  con- 
tinued, spite  of  the  appearance  from  time  to  time 
of  a  few  brilliant  and  earnest  teachers,  was  due  either 
to  the  indifference  of  the  State  to  the  higher  edu- 
cation, or  to  the  want  of  professional  ambition  among 
the  youth  of  both  East  and  West. 

In  Athens,  which  was  to  the  ancient  world  much 
more  than  Paris  was  to  Europe  in  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries,  the  organization  of  the  Academic 
teachers  had  been  long  of  a  lax  kind,  and  in  so  far 
as  it  was  organization  at  all,  it  was  of  a  voluntary 
character.  It,  in  fact,  bore  a  striking  resemblance  to 
the  state  of  Paris  and  Bologna  in  the  twelfth  century. 
But  from  the  time  of  Augustus,  if  not  before,  endow- 
ments partly  public,*  partly  private,  were  given. 
With  endowments  there  naturally  came  a  more 
definite  organization.  There  were  three  principal 
chairs f — sophistics  or  rhetoric,  politics,  and  philosophy. 
The  first-named  was  recognized  as  the  chief  chair  or 

*  It  is  probable  that  public  or  state  endowments  did  not  exist  till 
the  time  of  Marcus  Aurelius  (a.d.  1 61-180). 
+  Grafenhahn  (iii.  p.  29)  says  ten. 


4       MEDIALVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

throne  of  the  school,  and  had  attached  to  it  a  salary 
of  ^500  a  year  for  life.  But  the  chief  source  of 
emolument  was  at  all  times  the  fees  of  pupils. 
Among  these  were  to  be  found  (as  in  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries  at  Bologna  and  Paris)  matured 
men  of  the  world,  whose  fees  constantly  took  the  form 
of  handsome  honoraria.  The  rival  teachers  who  cir- 
culated round  the  "  school "  were  numerous,  and  not 
only  competed,  but  touted,  for  pupils.  The  auditors 
of  particular  teachers  formed  parties,  and  fought  with 
each  other.  So  high  did  the  spirit  of  competition 
run,  that  the  arrival  of  a  ship  in  the  Piraeus  was 
the  signal  for  a  rush  not  altogether  unlike  that  with 
which  all  continental  travellers  are  familiar.  But  in 
these  days  it  is  a  rush  of  needy  porters  or  hotel- 
agents  ;  in  those,  it  was  a  scramble  of  students,  each 
a  self-appointed  touter  for  his  own  particular  sophist. 
Spite  of  many  home-grown  evils,  however,  and 
of  the  formidable  rivalry  of  Alexandria,  Athens 
continued  to  hold  its  own  till  the  second  century, 
not  only  as  the  favoured  resort  of  students,  but  also 
as  the  true  head-quarters  of  such  speculation  as  sur- 
vived. "  The  splendour,"  says  Merivale  (c.  66),  "  of  an 
individual  reputation  might  suffice  to  found  an  academy 
at  other  places  of  educational  resort ;  the  disciples  of 
a  popular  rhetorician  or  philosopher  might  maintain 
for  two  or  more  generations  the  school  of  which  he 
had  laid  the  foundations  ;  but  the  ephemeral  brilliancy 
of  Rhodes,  Tarsus,  or  Halicarnassus  was  lost  in  the 


ROMANO-HELLENIC  SCHOOLS.  5 

constant  and  steady  light  which  had  beamed  for  five 
centuries  from  the  halls  of  Plato  and  Aristotle.  While 
hundreds  of  erudite  professors  of  every  art  and  of 
all  learning  wandered  from  the  centre  of  ancient 
discipline  to  instruct  in  their  own  homes  the  patrician 
youth  of  Italy  and  the  Provinces,  mankind  still 
recognized  in  undiminished  force  the  necessity  of 
a  course  of  study  at  Athens  itself,  to  equip  the 
complete  scholar  and  gentleman,  the  most  accom- 
plished  product  of  intellectual  training ; " — a  remark- 
able instance  of  the  perpetuity  of  the  power  of  the 
genius  loci 

Numerous  as  were  the  centres  of  Hellenic  learning 
spread  over  the  civilized  world  two  centuries  before 
Christ,  there  is  none  which  commands  our  attention, 
next  to  Athens  itself,  so  much  as  Alexandria.  This 
partly  because  it  first  gave  distinct  form  and  organiza- 
tion to  a  "  university,"  as  we  in  modern  times  under- 
stand that  word.  The  great  Alexander,  in  founding 
Alexandria,  connected  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa  noc 
merely  by  mercantile  bonds,  but  in  their  intellectual 
and  literary  life.  Here  arose  under  the  Ptolemies  a 
complete  system  of  higher  instruction,  and  libraries 
such  as  the  world  had  not  before  seen.  The  books 
were  lodged  in  the  temple  of  Serapis,  and  accumu- 
lated to  the  number  of  seven  hundred  thousand. 
They  formed  the  record  of  all  human  thought,  until 
they  fell  a  prey  to  internal  civic  and  religious  dis- 
sensions.    The  Serapeum  dates  from  B.C.  298,  and, 


6       MEDIMVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

after  recovering  from  the  fire  of  B.C.  48,  it  finally 
disappeared  about  A.D.  640.* 

In  connection  with  this  library,  Ptolemy  founded 
a  college,  or  rather  what  might  be  called  a  Studium 
Generale,  and  endowed  its  professors.  This  College 
was  erected  in  the  suburb  already  occupied  by  the 
Serapeum,  the  royal  palace,  the  amphitheatre,  and 
gymnasia.  "  A  noble  portico  stretched  along  its  front 
for  exercise  or  conversation,  and  opened  on  the  public 
rooms  devoted  to  disputation  and  lectures.  A  certain 
number  of  professors  were  lodged  within  the  precincts, 
and  a  handsome  hall  or  refectory  was  provided  for  the 
common  meal "  (Newman).  This  building  was  called 
the  Museum.  As  time  went  on,  new  colleges  were 
added  to  the  original  building.  The  most  eminent 
men  were  invited  to  fill  the  chairs,  and  round  them 
congregated  large  numbers  of  youths  from  every 
quarter  of  the  civilized  world,  to  study  the  arts  and 
sciences  which  were  there  represented  in  their  whole 
range.  In  the  Museum,  as  also  at  Athens,  were 
trained  the  Fathers  of  the  Church. 

So  enduring  was  the  character  of  this  great  insti- 
tution, that,  more  than  six  hundred  years  after  its 
foundation,  Ammianus  (A.D.  362)  speaks  of  it  as 
"  having  been  long  the  abode  of  distinguished  men," 
and  still  possessing  scholars  of  repute.  Medicine,  law, 
mathematics,  and  astronomy  were  cultivated.  It  was 
sufficient  recommendation  to  any  young  medicus  ill 
*  There  is  no  evidence  that  the  Arabs  burned  it. 


ROMANO-HELLENIC  SCHOOLS.  7 

any  part  of  the  Roman  empire  to  have  been  educated 
at  Alexandria  (Amm.  Mar.,  xxii.  16). 

As  might  be  expected  in  a  university  so  carefully 
organized  and  endowed,  the  teaching  was  of  a  far 
more  definite  and  practical  character  than  at  Athens. 
And  this  practical  character,  arising  largely  out  of  the 
pursuit  of  medicine,  mathematics,  and  grammar,  gave 
Alexandria  pre-eminence  and  power  after  the  leader- 
ship had  passed  away  from  the  mother  city  in  Attica. 
For  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  whatever  might  still 
be  the  attractions  and  reputation  of  Athens,  all 
earnest  philosophical  thought  was  in  the  first  century 
and  thereafter  to  be  found  in  Alexandria — the 
university  of  progress,  where  neo-Platonism  began 
to  rise  into  importance  under  the  influence  of  Judaic 
and  Christian  ideas.  This  mystic  movement  in 
philosophy  culminated  in  Plotinus,  who  died  about 
A.D.  205.  Nor  less  in  mathematics  and  physics  did 
Alexandria  lead  the  way. 

Passing  minor  schools,  and  among  them  the  famous 
school  of  law  at  Berytus,  in  Phoenicia,  we  turn  to  the 
capital  of  the  empire.  There,  at  the  time  of  which 
we  are  speaking,  Quintilian  was  still  teaching,  and  ere 
long,  having  retired  from  active  duty,  published  his 
u  Oratorical  Institutions,"  in  which  we  see  the  best  and 
soundest  elements  of  the  Hellenic  teaching  penetrated 
and  braced  by  the  Roman  spirit.  During  his  lifetime 
(he  died  A.D.  118)  he  saw  the  beginnings  of  the 
Roman  "university."     Grafenhahn  says  he  was  him- 


8       MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

self  a  professor  in  it  with  a  salary  of  ^"700  a  year.* 
A  common  point  of  rendezvous  for  the  Athenian 
sophists  was  naturally  the  metropolis  of  the  empire, 
although  they  were  also  to  be  found  in  all  leading 
provincial  towns  where  they  opened  private  schools. 
At  Rome  some  attempt  was  made  to  regulate  their 
activity  and  to  control  their  restlessness  under  the 
Flavian  dispensation.  Vespasian  completed  the  design 
of  his  new  Temple  of  Peace  by  erecting  a  basilica, 
in  which  the  learned  might  carry  on  their  teaching 
and  their  disputations  (A.D.  69-79).  This  institution 
was  called  the  Athenaeum,  if  not  precisely  at  this 
time,  at  least  under  Hadrian  (a.d.  i  17-138),  who  ex- 
tended it.  Both  the  institution  and  the  name  were 
evidently  suggested  by  the  Museum  of  Alexandria. 
Fixed  salaries  and  senatorial  rank  were  attached  to 
certain  chairs  from  the  time  of  Vespasian.f  This 
promotion  of  the  higher  education  was  no  passing 
caprice  on  the  part  of  the  imperial  authority,  but 
the  result  of  a  deliberate  policy.  Both  Vespasian 
and  Hadrian  were,  in  truth,  working  on  lines 
already  laid  down  by  Augustus,  but  they  took  a 
more  extended  view  of  the  necessities  of  the  empire 
by  planting  endowed  schools  of  rhetoric  and  grammar 
in  provincial  towns  as  well  as  in  Rome.  One  of  the 
cbjects  they  had  in  view,  says  Merivale,  was  to  "restore 

*  "Gesch.  der  Class.  Phil.,"  iv.  32. 

t  Sueton.,  Vit.  Vesp.,  18,  "Primus  (V.)  e  fisco  Latinis  Graecisque 
rhetoribus  annua  centera  constituit,"  etc. 


ROMANO-HELLENIC  SCHOOLS.  9 

the  tone  of  society,  to  infuse  into  the  national  mind 
healthier  sentiments ; "  but  I  suspect  the  chief  object 
was  to  control  the  academic  class,  just  as  the  civil 
power  afterwards  aimed  at  controlling  the  Church. 
By  means  of  endowments  and  organization,  men  who 
might  otherwise  have  employed  themselves  in  mis- 
leading youth  and  disturbing  the  social  order,  were 
brought  into  the  service  of  the  imperial  idea. 

The  endowments  of  the  rhetorical  school  at  the 
basilica  were  renewed  and  increased  by  successive 
emperors,  and  the  students  who  flocked  from  the  pro- 
vinces to  Rome  were  put  under  State  surveillance 
of  a  stringent  kind.*  At  this  metropolitan  university, 
the  trivium  and  quadrivium  formed,  as  at  Alexandria 
and  Athens,  the  staple  of  the  instruction,  but  these 
rather  in  the  form  of  ascertained  knowledge  than 
of  the  higher  speculation.  The  students  were  young, 
entering  about  the  age  of  fourteen,  and  leaving  at 
nineteen,  unless  when  they  remained  to  pursue  their 
studies  in  the  specialty  of  law,f  for  which  Rome  was 
the  chief  centre,  although  in  later  imperial  times, 
especially  after  the  division  of  the  empire,  it  found 
formidable  rivals  in  Berytus  and  Constantinople. 
There  were  ten  chairs  for  Latin  grammar,  ten  for 
Greek ;  three  for  Latin  rhetoric,  three  for  Greek ; 
one,  if  not  three,  for  philosophy ;  two,  if  not  four,  for 

*  See  Lecture  XI.,  seq. 

t  So  some  say ;  but  all  had  to  leave  in  their  twentieth  year,  as  I  read 
the  Theodosian  Code. 


io     MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

Roman  law.  Professorships  of  medicine  were  added 
at  a  later  period.  Grammar  included  language, 
metre,  criticism,  and  history.  The  students  who 
entered  were  presumed  to  have  already  gone  through 
a  two  years*  course  in  schools  of  the  Grammaticus. 
They  were  subjected,  as  I  have  said,  to  the  discipline 
of  the  civil  authorities. 

Nor  was  the  organization  of  the  higher  instruction 
confined  to  what  we  should  call  university  schools  in 
important  centres.  For,  "in  all  the  cities  of  the  Roman 
world,"  says  Gibbon  (chap,  xxiii.),  "  the  education  of 
youth  was  entrusted  to  masters  of  grammar  and 
rhetoric,  who  were  elected  by  the  magistrates,  main- 
tained at  the  public  expense,  and  distinguished  by 
many  lucrative  and  honourable  privileges."  To  this 
Juvenal  refers  (xv.  I  io)  in  the  following  lines  : — 

u  Nunc  totus  Graias,  nostrasque  habet  orbis  Athenas, 
Gallia  causidicos  docuit  facunda  Britannos, 
De  conducendo  loquitur  jam  rhetore  Thule." 

In  A.D.  334  Constantine,  in  continuation  of  the  work 
of  his  predecessors,  endeavoured,  by  a  decree  (Theod. 
Cod.,  xiii.  iv.  i),  further  to  stimulate  education  in 
the  arts.  Though  Julian  subsequently  banished 
Christian  teachers  from  the  schools,  no  one  doubts 
his  interest  in  education.  Valentinian,  again,  who  died 
A.D.  375,  confirmed  the  work  of  previous  emperors ; 
and,  a  year  after  his  death,  a  decree  of  Gratian 
confirmed  the  work  of  Valentinian.  Teachers — the 
Grammaticus,   the   Rhetor,  and   the   Sophist  —  were 


ROMANO-HELLENIC  SCHOOLS.  u 

held  in  high  respect,  and  they  enjoyed  many  of  the 
immunities  and  privileges  afterwards  conferred  on  the 
clergy.* 

Nor  were  libraries  wanting :  the  first  public  library 
in  Rome  was  planned  by  Julius  Caesar,  who  appointed 
Varro  to  carry  out  his  ideas  (Sueton.,  "Jul.  C,"  44). 
Caesar's  death  caused  operations  to  be  suspended. 
Asinius  Pollio  succeeded  in  instituting  one  in  a  hall 
of  the  Temple  of  Freedom,  f  Augustus  instituted 
two  public  libraries  about  thirty  years  before  Christ, 
and  others  were  afterwards  added.  Hadrian  established 
a  library  in  Athens. 

Looking,  then,  at  these  ample  public  provisions, 
we  cannot  say  that  the  decline  of  education  was  due 
to  external  causes.  It  was  a  decay  from  within.  And 
here,  for  the  better  understanding  of  the  subject,  it 
is  fitting  to  sketch  the  character  and  aims  of  the 
Romano-Hellenic  schools. 

From  the  time  of  Isocrates,  and  under  the  in- 
fluence of  Speusippus  and  Aristotle,  the  range 
of  human  knowledge  and,  consequently,  the  sphere 
of  the  higher  intellectual  activity  was  summed  up 
under  seven  heads :  grammar,  rhetoric,  and  dialectic 
— these  afterwards  known  as  the  trivium  ;  and  music, 
arithmetic,  geometry,  and  astronomy — known  as  the 
quadrivium.    These  names  were  first  used,  apparently, 

*  Bursaries  for  promising  freeborn  youths  were  first  instituted  by 
Alexander  Severus  about  A.D.  230  (Lamprid.,  M  Vit.  A.  S.,"  3). 
t  Vid.  for  authorities  Bahr,  "  Gesch.  d.  Rom.  Lit.,"  i.  48. 


12      MEDIMVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES, 

about  the  end  of  the  fourth  century.  The  terms, 
however,  were  themselves  elastic,  and  their  definitions 
varied  from  time  to  time ;  for  example,  grammar 
often  meant  abstract  grammar  alone,  generally  it 
embraced  literature  and  criticism.  Dialectic  seems  to 
me  to  have  belonged  to  the  higher  or  university  in- 
struction alone  in  the  Romano-Hellenic  schools,  and 
included  logic,  metaphysics,  and  ethics :  with  Quin- 
tilian  it  included  only  logic  and  ethics.  The  seven 
liberal  arts  were  studied  solely  in  the  interest  of 
general  culture  and  with  no  professional  aims,  with 
the  exception  of  rhetoric  and  law,  which  contemplated 
the  preparation  of  youth  for  public  life  and  the  bar. 
In  Alexandria  the  professional  training  of  the  phy- 
sician was  a  specialty,  as  at  Berytus  and  Rome  the 
professional  education  of  the  lawyer.  These  special 
aims,  however,  were,  for  long,  wholly  subordinated  to 
"arts"  in  the  widest  sense.  It  is  important  to  keep 
this  in  view,  if  we  would  understand  the  higher 
schools  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  and  the  subsequent 
character  of  mediaeval  education.  It  is  not  to  be 
supposed,  however,  that  all  the  youth  who  frequented 
the  pre-Christian  universities  took  the  whole  curri- 
culum of  study.  Rhetoric  and  oratory  chiefly 
occupied  their  attention,  and,  next  to  these,  philoso- 
phical discussions. 

In  the  opinion  of  Quintilian,  all  merely  formal 
studies,  such  as  logic  and  rhetoric,  were  to  be  under- 
taken with  a  view  to  the  solid  substance  of  literature, 


ROMANO-HELLENIC  SCHOOLS.  13 

philosophy,  science,  and  art.  The  realities  of  life,  not 
the  form  of  words  or  trick  of  phrase  or  felicity  of 
construction,  were  to  be  the  preparation  for  the  good 
orator.  But,  by  the  middle  of  the  second  century, 
^philosophy  was  an  intellectual  game,  personal  morality 
a  matter  of  convention  and  prudence,  and  rhetoric 
an  artifice.  The  departure  of  moral  earnestness  in 
the  pursuit  of  abstract  truth  was  at  the  same  time 
the  signal  for  the  departure  of  all  sound  education 
in  other  subjects.  Words  took  the  place  of  things, 
forms  of  realities.  Men  who  are  consciously  bound 
by  cultured  forms  of  expression  have  generally  very 
little  to  say.  It  was,  no  doubt,  the  deep  conviction  of 
the  futility  of  rhetorical  and  sophistical  studies  that 
led  Plutarch,  in  the  third  century,  so  earnestly  to  urge 
practical  morality,  and  Apollonius  of  Tyana  and  Dion, 
in  the  middle  and  close  of  the  first  century,  to  preach 
a  moral  and  spiritual  life.  These  men  were,  in  truth, 
colleagues  of  the  Christian  preacher  and  missionary, 
calling  men  to  a  new  faith. 

It  was  not  long  after  the  death  of  Plotinus  that 
the  Christian  Church  began  to  exercise  a  distinct 
influence  on  the  education  of  youth.  It  would  be 
an  historical  misconception  to  regard  this  influence 
as  hurtful,  and  content  ourselves  with  this  perfunctory 
judgment.  To  the  Hellenic  idea  as  denoted  by  the 
Roman  word  "humanitas,"  the  Christian  ibea  was 
certainly  hostile  ;  but  it  is  to  the  general  influences 


i4      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

which  led  to  the  disruption  of  the  empire  that  we 
must  trace  the  inner  decline  of  both  the  lower  and 
higher  schools.  True,  the  introduction  of  a  new 
conception  of  the  ends  of  human  life  struck  a  blow 
destined  to  be  fatal,  sooner  or  later,  to  the  Hellenic 
education  ;  but  already  the  schools  themselves  had 
become  so  degenerate,  if  not  corrupt,  that  they  could 
not  have  long  survived  without  a  philosophical  revival 
amounting  to  a  revolution.  Some  great  new  spiritual 
force  was  needed  to  reform  society  and  the  education 
of  the  young.  That  force  was  at  hand  in  Christianity; 
and  if  it  very  early  assumed  a  negative,  if  not  a  pro- 
hibitory, attitude  to  the  old  learning,  it  may  be 
conceded  that  this  was  an  inevitable  step  in  the 
development  of  a  new  ethical  ideal. 

The  Romano-Hellenic  schools  were,  however, 
tenacious  of  life.  Even  in  the  end  of  the  fourth 
century  we  find  them  still  diffused  over  the  provinces. 
In  Africa  they  flourished,  and  in  Gaul  there  were  many 
well-known  centres  in  which  both  the  Grammaticus 
and  the  Rhetor,*  and  in  some  cases  the  jurist  and 
the  philosopher,  taught — such  as  Marseilles,  Narbonne, 
Bordeaux,  Aries,  Toulouse,  Poitiers,  Besangon,  Vienne, 
Autun,f   Lyons   (founded   by  Caligula,   A.D.  37-41), 

*  The  edict  of  Gratian,  in  A.D.  376,  enables  us  to  fix  the  relative  im- 
portance of  the  Grammaticus  and  Rhetor :  the  former  was  to  be  paid 
only  one-half  the  salary  of  the  latter. 

t  In  Viriville's  "  Hist,  de  l'Instruction  publique  "  we  learn  that  at 
Autun,  in  a.d.  276,  the  walls  of  the  porticoes  of  the  schools  were  painted 
over  with  maps  and  dates  and  historical  facts. 


ROMANO-HELLENIC  SCHOOLS.  15 

Rheims  (at  one  time  called  the  New  Athens),  and, 
most  famous  of  all,  Treves,  where  there  was  also  an 
excellent  library.  The  interests  of  the  professors  at 
these  centres  formed  a  constant  subject  of  care  to 
the  emperors,*  who  from  time  to  time  confirmed 
and  extended  their  privileges. 

If  now  we  turn  to  the  East,  we  find  that  intel- 
lectual activity  was  not  so  soon  arrested  as  in  the 
West.  At  the  head -quarters  of  the  empire,  Constan- 
tinople, and  in  Athens  the  traditions  of  ancient 
learning  still  survived.  Theodosius  (a.D.  379)  and 
Valentinian  developed  more  fully  the  scheme  of  Con- 
stantine,  and  organized  the  teaching  at  the  Eastern 
capital  by  appointing  three  Oratores  and  ten  Gram- 
matici  in  Latin;  in  Greek,  five  Sophistae  and  ten 
Grammatici,  one  teacher  of  philosophy  ("  qui  philoso- 
phise arcana  rimetur  "),  and  two  of  civil  law.f  Seven 
librarians,  for  arranging,  preserving,  and  repairing 
manuscripts,  were  also  added  to  the  staff.  The 
Auditorium  was  in  the  Capitol.  %  There  were  recesses, 
called  excdrce,  off  the  porticoes,  provided  with  seats. 
In  these  the  professors  taught.  Even  down  to  the 
eighth  century,  classical  authors  were  studied  in 
the  Christian  school  of  the  Octagon,  along  with  the 
Fathers  of  the  Church,  and  after  a  period  of  decay, 
the   university   was   refounded  by  Michael   II.  (A.D. 

*  Guizot,  "Hist,  of  Civilization  in  France,"  iv. 
t   Vide  Theod.  Cod.,  xiv.  ix.  3. 
%  Ibid.,  xv.  i.  53. 
4 


16      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

842-  86?)}  and  in  it  we  find  chairs  of  geometry  and 
astronomy,  as  well  as  of  Greek  literature.* 

'  Spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  Eastern  emperors, 
however,  learning  was  rare,  literature  and  science  non- 
existent. Law  alone  survived,  and  was  alone  pro- 
gressive. The  age  which  had  in  Libanius,  the  friend 
of  Julian,  its  most  noted  man  of  letters,  had  broken 
for  ever  with  the  Hellenic  past.  Notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  a  new  university  was,  in  the  end  of  the 
fourth  century,  instituted  at  Constantinople ;  that 
Alexandria  still  had  a  reputation,  especially  in  medi- 
cine and  mathematics ;  that  Athens  was  still  vivacious, 
if  not  living;  that  Antioch  was  a  worthy  rival  of 
Athens  ;  that  Carthage  had  a  high  reputation ;  that 
the  university  schools  at  Rome  and  Berytus  main- 
tained a  high  level  of  law  teaching; — spite  of  all 
these  things,  the  soul  had  departed  from  the  Eastern 
as  well  as  from  the  Western  schools  :  there  was  a 
universal  decadence,  which  in  half  a  century  ended 
in  death.  The  reforms  attempted  in  the  West  by 
Ausonius  (A.D.  367-383)  had  failed  to  arrest  the 
general  decline.  Some  think  that  he  might  have 
succeeded.  I  doubt  it.  The  causes  of  decline  lay 
too  deep,  and  were  of  a  kind  not  to  be  removed 
by  authoritative  regulations.  All  educational  insti- 
tutions   must   die   which   do   not   directly   and   con- 

*  Finlay's  "  Byzantine  Empire,"  ii.  25.  Again,  in  the  eleventh 
century,  the  logic  of  Psellus,  emanating  from  Constantinople,  may  be 
almost  said  to  have  made  an  epoch  in  scholastic  studies. 


ROMANO-HELLENIC  SCHOOLS.  17 

sgicuously  promote  either  the  spiritual  or  the  material 
interests  of  men.  The  Romano-Hellenic  schools  had 
ceased  to  do  either  the  one  or  the  other,  save  in  the 
department  of  law  at  Rome,  Berytus,  and  Byzantium, 
and  perhaps,  of  medicine  in  Alexandria. 

Note. — Of  the  chairs  endowed  by  Marcus  Aurelius  at  Athens, 
Grafenhahn  says  (iii.  29)  that  two  were  set  apart  for  each  of  the  four 
philosophical  schools — Platonist,  Peripatetic,  Stoic,  and  Epicurean. 


18     MEDIALVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES, 


LECTURE   II. 

INFLUENCE   OF  CHRISTIANITY   ON   EDUCATION, 
AND   RISE   OF  CHRISTIAN   SCHOOLS. 

CONSTANTINE  placed  the  Christian  cross  on  his 
banner  in  A.D.  312,  and  he  convoked  the  first  General 
Council  of  Christians  at  Nice  in  325. 

Theodosius  II.  ascended  the  throne  in  408.  In 
his  Code  the  following  words  are  to  be  found: 
"  Pagani  qui  supersunt  .  .  .  quamquam  jam  nullos 
esse  credamus."  *  This  was  an  exaggerated,  though 
perhaps  politic,  declaration  ;  for  we  cannot  believe 
that  the  revival  of  paganism  under  Julian,  who 
died  only  forty-five  years  before,  could  have  been 
so  utterly  hollow  and  artificial  as  to  have  been 
wholly  submerged  by  the  returning  wave  of  Chris* 
tianity  under  his  successors.  Still  the  words  quoted 
from  the  Code  mark  the  end  of  the  struggle 
between  the  old  and  the  new.  Paganism  was 
now  dead,  though  pagans  might  still  exist.  But  we 
are  not  to  infer  that  the  influence  of  Christianity  on 

*  Mullinger's  "  Schools  of  Charles  the  Great,"  p.  3. 


RISE   OF  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS.  19 

the  schools  dates  only  from  the  beginning  of  the 
fifth  century,  when  it  was  everywhere  triumphant. 
The  death  of  Plotinus  two  hundred  years  before  this 
date  marks,  it  seems  to  me,  the  extinction  of  Romano- 
Hellenic  ideas  in  the  middle  and  higher  schools. 
The  philosophical  and  literary  movements  had 
exhausted  themselves.  There  was  no  longer  an 
inspiring  idea  and  aim  ;  and,  without  these,  an 
institution  is  dying,  if  not  dead,  though  to  the  eye 
of  sense  it  may  seem  still  to  live.  While  buildings, 
organization,  libraries,  and  endowments  last,  it  may 
revive,  but  it  can  do  so  only  under  the  influence  of 
an  antiquarian  reaction  (always  artificial  and  fleeting) 
or  of  a  new  philosophy  of  life. 

All  genuine  activity  of  intellect  outside  the  Chris- 
tian writers  was  now  confined  to  the  students  of  law. 
That  the  judicial  mind  of  the  Roman  should  find  not 
only  a  congenial  field  for  its  activity,  but,  under  the 
new  imperial  conditions,  a  strong  and  imperative  de- 
mand on  its  powers,  we  can  easily  understand.  The 
consolidation  of  the  empire  must  have  called  for 
the  exercise  of  all  the  resources  of  jurisprudence,  and 
the  transference  of  the  seat  of  power  to  the  East 
must  have  further  stimulated  the  juristic  mind  by 
bringing  accepted  principles  and  precedents  into  rela- 
tion with  new  emergencies.  The  unity  of  the  empire, 
from  Augustus  onwards,  was  in  point  of  fact  merely 
another  expression  for  the  supremacy  of  authority 
and  law  over  individualism  and  subjectivity.     Indeed, 


20      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

may  we  not  say  that  Hellenic  freedom  of  speculation 
on  all  subjects,  human  and  divine,  could  have  been 
allowed  to  exist  only  on  condition  that  there  was  a 
firm  controlling  hand  at  head-quarters?  Imperial 
unity,  which  meant  the  peace  of  the  world,  was  an  idea 
which  might  well  have  engaged  the  passionate  support 
of  the  philanthropist,  whether  pagan  or  Christian. 

Unfortunately  the  empire  was  unable  to  sustain 
itself.     The  burden  was  too  great  for  any  one  central 
authority  permanently  to  bear.     Thg_,want  of  moral  / 
earnestness,  the  extinction  of  the  old    families,  the    - 
3   inequalities  of  wealth,  the  decrease  of  the  numbers  . 
of  free  citizens,  the  corrupting  effects  of  slavery,  the 
dissoluteness  of  those  who  ought  by  their  example  to 
have  moralized  the  supreme  power,  the  venality  of  the 
law  courts,  and  the  pressure  of  barbarian  hordes,  were  % 
gradually  leading  the  empire  to  its  dissolution.*     The 
new  formative  force  of  Christianity  had  been  mean- 
while slowly  winning  its  way,  and  finding  its  justifi- 
cation and  opportunity  in  the  disintegration  of  ancient 
morals,  philosophies,  and  religions. 

I  have  already  pointed  out  that  the  decay  of 
the  schools  was  not  due  to  any  neglect  on  the  part 
of  the  governing  authorities.  In  the  greatest  days 
of  Greece,  education  was  widespread,  but  except  in 
Sparta  it  was  not  organized.     With  the  empire  came 

*  I  quite  understand  that  the  Western  empire  did  not  in  the  fifth 
century  absolutely  die,  and  that  the  Byzantine  rule,  as  a  purely  con- 
servative power,  held  the  East  together  for  a  thousand  years. 


RISE   OF  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS.  21 

organization  in  this  as  in  every  other  department  of 
social  life,  and  organization  meant  buildings,  endow- 
ments, and  privileges.  It  is  a  curious  but,  I  think,s 
!  undeniable  fact  that  from  the  time  education  became/ 
an  object  of  solicitude  to  the  civil  power,  genuine; 
philosophic  ardour  and  literary  productivity  began  to/ 
I  decline,  and  a  marked  and  steady  decay  of  the  scien-j 
^tific  spirit  was  visible.  The  endowments  at  Athens, 
the  elaborate  organization  of  learning  at  Alexandria, 
and  the  Athenaeum  at  Rome,  had  not,  after  all,  at- 
tained the  end  of  advancing  the  knowledge  either 
of  nature  or  of  mind.  They  were  all  exercising- 
grounds  for  intellect,  however,  and  so  gave  a  certain 
training  and  discipline  to  the  more  ambitious  youth 
of  the  empire.  The  only  studies  which  bore  the  marks 
of  genuineness  were,  as  I  have  said,  law  and,  to  some 
extent  (in  Alexandria),  medicine  and  mathematics,  and 
it  may  be  confidently  maintained  that  law  and  medi- 
cine preserved  their  vitality  not  because  of  any  specu- 
lative interest  in  these  studies,  but  simply  because  of 
their  direct  bearing  on  human  welfare  and  on  pjcofesr 
sional  suoq£<ss.  Grammar  had  lost  itself  in  verbal  criti- 
cism ;  dialectic  had  passed  into  verbal  eristic  ;  rhetoric 
had  become,  where  it  was  not  a  mass  of  rules  for 
being  eloquent  (necessarily  futile),  mere  sophistic ; 
and  philosophy,  except  in  the  hands  of  Plotinus,  had 
been  vitiated  by  Oriental  theosophy,  had  become  void 
through  the  absence  of  ethical  purpose,  and  in  the 
end  degraded  by  alliance  with  Egyptian  magic. 


22      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

The  edict  of  Justinian  which,  in  529,  finally  sup- 
pressed the  mother  school  of  Athens,  did  not  come 
a  day  too  soon.  There  were,  as  will  appear  from 
what  I  have  said,  many  causes  for  this  decline  and 
final  extinction  quite  apart  from  Christian  antipathy, 
and  among  them  I  would  note  one  which  specially 
concerns  Athens,  and  which,  though  of  minor  im- 
portance, yet  deserves  mention — I  mean  the  compe- 
tition of  rival  lecturers.  Competition  in  the  domain 
of  science  and  philosophy  is  not  proof  against  vulgar 
motives  any  more  than  the  competitions  of  the 
market-place.  It  very  soon  ceases  to  be  a  generous 
rivalry  of  intellect,  and  becomes  a  mere  commercial 
contest.  If  there  be  one  thing  more  certain  than 
another,  it  is  that  pure  devotion  to  science  and 
philosophy  is  utterly  incompatible  with  the  mental 
disturbance  and  degradation  involved  in  academic 
shopkeeping. 

I  say  that  the  decline  was  not  due  solely  to 
Christian  antipathy.  At  the  same  time,  that  had 
largely  contributed  to  the  decline ;  and  had  Chris- 
tianity assumed  a  purely*1  negative  attitude  to  the 
Romano-Hellenic  life  and  culture,  and  done  no  more, 
lit  would  have  to  be  classed  among  the  destructive 
powers  of  barbarism.  But  it  had  its  positive  side : 
it  had  in  it  a  power  to  build  up  as  well  as  to  throw 
down.  It  introduced  more  than  one  new  idea  into 
the  life  of  our  race.  It  broadened  and  deepened  the 
sentiment  of  the   common   brotherhood  of  man  by 


/USE   OF  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS.  23 

giving  to  human  sympathy  and  love  a  divine  sanction. 
But  most  important  of  all,  iLfortified  the  sense  of 
personality.  The  individual  was  now  not  only  a  free, 
thinking  spirit  which  had  its  personal  life  and  personal . 
rights ;  but  this  spirit,  the  true  person  of  each  indi< 
''vidual,  was  now  seen  to  be  rooted  in  God — to  be/ 
of  infinite  importance  even  in  His  eyes.  Thus,  by] 
one  stroke  as  it  were,  the  personality  of  each  man5 
was  deepened,  nay  consecrated,  while  at  the  same) 
time  his  bond  of  sympathy  with  all  other  humaiij 
beings  was  strengthened.  Two  opposite  results  were) 
thus  attained :  and  these  two  were  conciliated.  For 
the  deepening  of  man's  spiritual,  personal  life  meant 
in  truth  the  life  with  God,  and  it  was  in  and  through 
this  life  that  his  personality  became  a  matter  of  infinite 
worth.  But  this  rooting  of  the  finite  subject  in  the 
eternal  and  universal  Reason,  while  giving  infinite 
worth  to  the  soul  of  each  man,  at  the  same  time 
made  impossible  that  insolence  of  individualism  and 
self-assertion  which  had  characterized  the  subjective 
movement  among  the  Greeks.  Man  became,  as  a 
personality,  much  greater  than  the  most  exalted 
Stoic  could  have  conceived  ;  but  by  the  very  same 
act,  he  was  taught  humility,  dependence,  humanity, 
love. 

As  may  be  easily  understood,  that  part  of  the 
new  doctrine  which  taught  that  man  lived  for  a 
hereafter,  and  that  this  life  was  a  preparation  for 
that  hereafter,  first  told  on  the  educational  efforts  of 


24     MEDIAEVAL    EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

the  time.  The  leaders  of  the  Church  directed  them- 
selves chiefly  to  catechizing  and  instructing  with  a 
view  to  a  city  not  of  this  world,  and  they  did  so  in 
expectation  of  the  early  dissolution  of  all  things. 
They  also  began  to  prepare  ministers  for  the  Church ; 
for  the  people  had  to  be  instructed  in  the  new  philo- 
sophy of  life,  and  temple  services  had  to  be  conducted. 
There  was  great  moral  activity  in  the  newT  "sect;" 
and,  so  far  as  education  was  concerned,  it  might  fairly 
be  said  that  every  Christian  assemblage  where  the 
Gospels  were  read,  prayers  offered,  and  hymns  sung, 
was  a  people's  school.  To  discharge  this  religious 
duty,  and  to  train  its  ministers,  was  as  much  as  the 
infant  community  could  be  expected  to  do.  This  it 
did  in  the  catechetical  and,  afterwards,  in  the  epis- 
copal schools.* 

The  Christian  conception  of  education,  however, 

\  was,  unfortunately  (like  that  of  old  Cato),  narrow. 

!  It  tended  steadily  to  concentrate  and  contract  men's 
intellectual  interests.  The  Christian  did  not  think 
of  the  culture  of  the  whole  man.  He  could  not  con- 
sistently do  so.  His  sole  purpose  was  the  salvation  of 
the  soul.  This  temporal  life  was  only  the  threshold  of 
the  true  life.  Salvation  was  to  be  attained  through 
abnegation  of  the  world  and  through  faith.  Faith 
tended  to  degenerate  into  merely  intellectual  accept- 
ance of  dogma  among  the  intelligent,  and  credulity 

*  These  schools,  as  distinct  from  pagan  institutions,  date  from  the 
lose  of  the  second  century. 


RISE  01   CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS.  25 

and  superstition  among  the  masses.  Abnegation,  too, 
degenerated  into  asceticism.  Hence  a  twofold  result : 
the  gradual  substitution  of  alien  authority,  dominating 
a  timid  and  cowardly  subjectivity,  for  the  free  move-' 
ment  of  reason,  and  the  divorcement  of  man  from 
this  world  in  the  interests  of  another. 

Christianity,  accordingly,  found  itself  necessarily 
placed  in  mortal  antagonism  to  "  Humanitas "  and 
Hellenism,  and  had  to  go  through  the  troublous  ex- 
periences of  nearly  fourteen  hundred  years  before 
the  possibility  of  the  union  of  reason  with  authority, 
of  religion  with  Hellenism,  could  be  conceived.  This 
antagonism  was,  however,  for  the  first  two  centuries 
of  the  Christian  era,  latent.  Christian  bishops  ob- 
tained all  the  instruction  and  shared  all  the  learning 
of  their  time,  being,  however,  always  on  their  guard 
against  its  hurtful  influences.  Tertullian,  who  died 
A.D.  245,  decides  in  favour  of  Christians  attending 
pagan  schools  on  grounds  of  necessity,  but  warns 
them  to  select  the  good  and  to  reject  the  evil  neces- 
sarily associated  with  the  instruction  there  given. 
The  "  Apostolical  Constitutions "  ascribed  to  the 
middle  of  the  fourth  century  are,  Mr.  Bass  Mullinger 
says,  hostile  to  the  reading  of  pagan  authors,  and  he 
quotes  from  them  (i.  6)  as  follows :  "  Refrain  from 
all  the  writings  of  the  heathen ;  for  what  hast  thou 
to  do  with  strange  discourses,  laws,  or  false  prophets, 
which,  in  truth,  turn  aside  from  the  faith  those  who 
are  weak  in  understanding  ?"  and  so  forth.     In  the 


2b     MEDIALVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

East,  St.  Basil  (died  379)  took  a  more  liberal  view 
of  Greek  literature.  In  the  West,  St.  Augustine  (who 
died  in  395),  in  his  book  "De  Ordine,"  commends 
the  study  of  grammar,  rhetoric,  and  heathen  writers 
generally,  but  only  for  Christian  purposes  and  for  the 
mental  discipline  they  give. 

As  was,  indeed,  inevitable,  theological  discussions 
more  and  more  occupied  the  active  intellect  of  the  time, 
to  the  subordination,  if  not  total  neglect,  of  humane 
letters  and  philosophy.  The  Latin  and  Greek  classics^ 
were  ultimately  denounced.  As  the  offspring  of  the 
pagan  world,  if  not,  indeed,  inspired  by  demons,  they 
were  dangerous  to  the  new  faith.  The  apostasy  of 
Julian  must  have  convinced  any  doubting  ecclesiastics 
of  this  danger.  In  398,  the  Fourth  Council  of  Car- 
thage formally  prohibited  the  reading  of  secular  books 
even  by  the  bishops.  The  learned  St.  Jerome  (died 
420)  condemned  the  study  of  the  classics,  except  for 
"pious  uses;"  and,  in  his  later  and  more  ascetic  period, 
he  rejoices  over  the  growing  neglect  of  Plato  and 
Aristotle,  although  he  himself,  as  a  younger  man, 
had  taught  them  in  his  convent  at  Bethlehem.  Even 
so  late  as  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century,  when 
Christianity  had  been  everywhere  triumphant,  and 
there  was  less  to  fear,  the  learned  Cassiodorus,  after 
impressing  on  the  monks  of  his  foundation  at  Viviers 
the  special  study  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Fathers, 
cautiously  says,  "The  holy  Fathers  have  passed  no 
decree  binding  us  to  repudiate  secular  literature ;  for, 


RISE   OF  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS.  27 

in  fact,  such  reading  prepares  the  mind  in  no  slight 
measure  for  understanding  the  sacred  writings."  * 

After  the  death  of  Augustine  (395),  the  Romano- 
Hellenic  schools,  which  had  been  steadily  losing 
ground,  may  be  said  to  have  practically  died  out, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  survivals  in  Gaul  and 
Africa,  the  Mesopotamian  schools  of  Edessa  and 
Nisibis,  and  the  law  school  of  Berytus.  Sidonius 
Apollinaris,  who  died  in  488,  says,  "  Young  men  no 
longer  study,  professors  no  longer  have  pupils  ;  know- 
ledge languishes  and  dies."  In  the  subsequent  gene- 
ration, Boethius  and  Cassiodorus  may  be  regarded 
as  the  last  Romano-Hellenic  product.  The  latter 
(born  about  470),  the  able  minister  of  Theodoric  the 
Great,  alarmed  at  the  universal  decline  of  learning, 
retired  to  Viviers  in  Calabria,  and  there,  in  540, 
endeavoured  to  institute  a  monastic  college,  in  which 
should  be  revived  the  old  classical  studies ;  but  ap- 
parently without  much  success,  at  least  of  a  perma- 
nent character. 

Schools,  however,  of  some  kind  were  needed  which 
should  be  in  accordance  with  Christian  requirements ; 
and  as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  third  century 
these  began  to  appear,  though  they  had  not  yet  by 
any  means  superseded  the  Romano-Hellenic  schools. 
They  were  under  the  superintendence  of  the  bishops  ; 
and  those  who  frequented  them  with  a  view  to  the 

*  Newman's  "  Historical  Sketches,"  ii.  453. 


28      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

Christian  ministry  were  presumed  to  have  already 
passed  through  the  ordinary  public  schools  of  the 
country.  They  long  existed  side  by  side  with  the 
schools  of  the  Grammatici  and  the  higher  or  uni- 
versity institutions,  and  in  Alexandria,  owing  to  the 
conflict  there  of  Jewish  and  Gnostic  opinions,  they 
were  characterized  by  considerable  activity.  These 
Christian  catechetical  schools  (the  first  of  which  was 
founded  by  Pantaenus  in  1 8 1,  at  Alexandria)  increased 
in  number  and  efficiency  at  the  episcopal  seats.  Not 
only  were  intending  priests  educated  in  them,  but 
certain  of  the  laity  also  began  to  receive  at  least 
elementary  instruction.  The  Church  in  the  end  of 
the  fourth  century,  after  the  death  of  Julian,  gained 
control  over  education.  At  some  of  the  more  im- 
portant of  the  Christian  schools,  also,  the  "trivial'1 
course  began  to  be  given,  thus  superseding  entirely 
the  school  of  the  Grammaticus.  Meanwhile,  St 
Martin,  in  imitation,  doubtless,  of  what  he  had  seen 
in  the  East  when  a  soldier  under  Julian,  had,  in  361, 
founded  at  Liguge^  in  Maine,  the  first  monastery,  and 
afterwards  that  of  Tours  (372),  and  so  initiated,  with 
a  new  educational  conception,  a  new  machinery.  St. 
Basil  was  at  this  time  giving  a  "  rule  "  to  the  monas- 
teries and  schools  of  the  East,  and  St.  Martin  may 
have  met  him.* 

*  The  influence  of  Athanasius,  when  he  took  refuge  in  Rome  in  341, 
was,  I  think,  restricted  to  purely  monastic  institutions  and  the  "re- 
ligious "  life.     So  also  at  Treves. 


RISE   OF  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS.  29 

At  the  very  time  when  the  ancient  culture  had 
become  practically  extinct  (for  the  appearance  of  a 
man  now  and  then  with  some  classical  tastes  only 
served  to  illustrate  the  universal  decay),  we  find  in 
the  East,  as  I  have  shown  in  the  previous  lecture,  an 
endeavour  to  resuscitate  education,  at  the  university 
of  Constantinople  and  through  the  monastic  rule  of 
St.  Basil ;  and,  now  in  the  West,  we  encounter  a  co- 
temporary  movement,  conceived  in  a  much  narrower 
spirit,  towards  the  final  supplanting  of  the  Romano- 
Hellenic  school  by  one  formed  on  a  purely  Chris- 
tian model.  Cassian,  born  (probably  in  Marseilles) 
about  370,  after  spending  many  years  among  the 
hermits  and  cenobites  of  the  Thebais,  returned  to 
Gaul  in  404,  and  there  founded,  in  imitation  of  the 
Egyptian  institutions,  the  monastery  of  St.  Victor 
at  Marseilles.  He  contributed  also  to  the  institution 
of  the  afterwards  much-celebrated  monastery  of 
Lerins  on  a  neighbouring  island. 

The  characteristic  of  the  Western  monastic  system, 
as  opposed  to  the  Oriental,  was  that  work,  in  the  shape 
of  farming,  teaching,  or  charitable  services,  formed 
an  essential  part  of  its  "rule."  The  monasteries  of 
Cassian  were  schools  as  well  as  religious  retreats.  We 
find  that  in  him  the  anti-Hellenic  feeling  in  education 
culminated.  He  had  completely  dissociated  himself 
from  all  humanistic  ideas,  and  he  entertained  a  pro- 
found  distrust  of  all  human  learning,  even  when  applied 
to  Scripture.     The  study  of  the  Scriptures  and  devo- 


30      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

tional  exercises  constituted  the  intellectual  as  well  as 
the  religious  end  of  the  monastic  life.  With  these 
exercises  he  united  severe  bodily  labour.  It  does 
not  appear  that,  at  first,  any,  save  young  aspirants 
to  the  "  religious  "  life,  were  taught.  It  was  only  some 
time  after  the  foundation  of  the  Benedictine  Order, 
to  which  I  shall  immediately  refer,  that  externs  seem 
to  have  been  admitted  to  the  monastery  schools. 
The  instruction  given  was,  as  might  have  been 
expected,  of  the  most  meagre  character.  The  boys 
were  taught  to  read,  merely  that  "they  might 
study  the  Bible  and  understand  the  services  ;  to 
write,  in  order  that  they  might  multiply  copies  of 
the  sacred  books  and  of  the  psalter ;  to  understand 
music,  that  they  might  give  with  due  effect  the 
Ambrosian  chant."*  A  little  arithmetic  was  given 
in  order  to  fit  the  few  who  had  a  turn  that  wTay  to 
calculate  the  return  of  Easter  and  the  other  Church 
festivals.  Cassian's  position  was  quite  logical.  It 
is  difficult  to  see  how  any  man,  with  his  views 
of  human  life   and  destiny,  could  countenance   any 

{learning  whatsoever.  The  arts  and  sciences  be- 
longed to  the  vain  shows  and  babblements  of  an 
irreligious  world,  and  the  fancies  and  fictions  of 
the  poets  were  the  product  of  the  spirits  of  evil 
who  constantly  haunted  the  steps  of  men,  at  once 
l  guiding  the  pen  of  Virgil  and  animating  the  oraclej 
[pf  Delphi. 

*  Mullinger,  p.  31. 


RISE   OF  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS.  31 

But  though  Cassian,  notwithstanding  the  previous 
action  of  St.  Martin,  may  be  said  to  have  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  new  education,  it  was  to  St.  Bene- 
dict and  his  order,  a  hundred  years  later,  that  the 
mediaeval  Church  truly  owed  the  Christian  school. 
Born  in  480  at  Nursia,  Benedict  withdrew,  after  a 
youth  remarkable  even  after  we  throw  out  the  fabulous 
elements,  to  Monte  Cassino,  near  Naples ;  and  there, 
in  428,  founded  a  monastery  on  the  site  of  a  temple 
of  Apollo.  He  had  educational  as  well  as  religious 
aims  from  the  first,  and  it  is  to  the  monks  of  his 
rapidly  extending  order,  or  to  the  influence  which 
their  "rule"  exercised  on  other  conventual  orders, 
such  as  the  Columhan,  that  we  owe  the  diffusion 
of  schools  in  the  earlier  half  of  the  Middle  Ages  and 
the  preservation  of  ancient  learning.  The  Benedictine 
monks  not  only  taught  in  their  own  monasteries,  but 
were  everywhere  in  demand  as  heads  of  episcopal 
or  cathedral  schools. 

St.  Benedict  was  not  himself  a  man  of  learning, 
but  he  was  deeply  impressed  with  the  necessity  of 
a  Christian  education.  It  was  of  him  that  Pope 
Gregory  the  Great  said  that  he  was  "  knowingly  un- 
knowing, wisely  unlearned."  Of  the  rules  of  his  order, 
those  which  imposed  the  duty  of  instructing  the 
young  novices,  from  the  age  of  seven  to  fourteen, 
and  of  transcribing  manuscripts,  placed  the  mediaeval 
and  modern  world  under  incalculable  obligations. 
For  the  monks  themselves  he  specified  no  authors 


32      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

except  Cassian  *  and  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  together  with  such  expositions 
thereon  as  "  the  most  illustrious  doctors  of  the 
orthodox  faith  and  the  Catholic  Fathers  had  com- 
piled." f  His  object  was  not  learning,  but  a  life 
of  combined  labour  and  asceticism  ;  and  even  the 
commentaries  to  which  I  have  referred  were  not 
much  favoured,  though  generally  commended.  The 
reading  prescribed  to  the  monks  had  in  view  solely 
the  cultivation  in  them  of  the  religious  life  as  opposed 
to  the  life  of  the  world.  These  Benedictine  com- 
munities multiplied  rapidly  over  Europe,  and  extended 
the  blessing  of  elementary,  and  frequently  of  more 
advanced,  instruction  to  many  who  contemplated 
secular  vocations.  But  always  restricted ;  for  edu- 
cation even  of  the  monk  by  the  monk  was  in  itself 
a  contradiction  of  the  great  aim  of  those  who  felt 
a  call  to  cenobite  life — summa  qiries.  Even  Cardinal 
Newman  says,  the  monk  "  cared  little  for  knowledge, 
even  theological ;  or  for  success,  even  though  religious. 
It  is  the  character  of  such  a  man  to  be  contented, 
resigned,  patient,  incurious  ;  to  create  or  originate 
nothing  ;  to  live  by  tradition."  % 

Passing  by  the  work  of  the  greatest  of  the  popes 
— Gregory — the  historian  of  education  now  finds  him- 

*  The  Collationes,  or  Conferences  of  Cassian,  published  as  a  record 
of  conversations  held  by  him  with  the  monks  and  holy  men  of  Egypt, 
t  Mullinger,  in  "Diet.  Christ.  Antiq." 
X  u  Historical  Sketches,"  ii.  452. 


RISE   OF  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS.  33 

self  irresistibly  attracted  by  Ireland.  It  was  when 
the  efforts  of  the  learned  Cassiodorus  were  failing  in 
Calabria  that  Irish  education  received  its  first  impulse. 
Mr.  Mullinger  is  disposed  to  be  of  opinion  that  Irish 
Christian  civilization  dates  from  the  time  of  St. 
Jerome,  and  that  Ireland  received  its  traditions 
straight  from  the  East  by  way  of  Marseilles.  Its 
scholastic  foundations  certainly  affiliated  themselves 
in  spirit  to  Basil  and  Martin  rather  than  to  Cassian. 
Dr.  Skene  *  proves,  I  think,  that  Ireland  received  its 
monastic  life  first  through  St.  Ninian's  monastery  of 
Candida  Casa,  planted  in  Galloway  in  honour  of  St. 
Martin,  and  also  from  Wales  by  the  agency  of  St. 
Finnian,  who  founded  Clonard.  This  is  certain,  that 
the  Irish  or  Scoti  cultivated  Greek  and  Latin  literature 
when  other  parts  of  the  civilized  world  had  ceased  to 
do  so,  and  that  they  were  much  given  to  dialectic  dis- 
putation. There  was  a  living  scholarship  among  them 
and  a  genuine  speculative  spirit.  It  was  an  Irish 
scholar,  Maeldurf,  who  taught  Aldhelm  at  Malmes- 
bury  in  the  seventh  century ;  and  the  Greek  monk, 
Theodore  of  Tarsus,  was,  on  his  assuming  the  pri- 
macy of  England,  surrounded,  says  Aldhelm,  by 
Irish  scholars.  The  celebrated  Irish  schools  must 
have  been  founded  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixth 
century.  "  While  almost  the  whole  of  Europe,"  says 
Dollinger,  "was  desolated  by  war,  peaceful  Ireland, 
free  from  the  invasions  of  external  foes,  opened  to 

*  "Celtic  Scotland,"  ii.  2. 


34      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

the  lovers  of  learning  and  piety  a  welcome  asylum." 
From  these  Irish  schools  went  forth  the  founders  of 
monasteries  and  bearers  of  learning  to  England,  Scot- 
land, France,  and  Germany. 

In  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries,  largely 
under  Irish  and  English  influence,  monastery  schools 
and  convents  for  female  education  increased  in 
number,  not  only  in  England  but  on  the  continent 
of  Europe.  But  while  the  frequent  regulations  made 
in  different  parts  of  the  Catholic  world  by  councils 
show  clearly  enough  that  the  Church  was  anxious  to 
extend  education,  the  schools  were,  as  yet,  sparse, 
and  the  results  of  their  teaching  very  meagre  except 
in  a  few  famous  monasteries.  Efforts  were  from  time 
to  time  made  by  leading  ecclesiastics  to  institute 
schools,  and,  by  the  help  of  the  monastery  founda- 
tions, much  was  unquestionably  accomplished.  The 
main  and,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  the  sole  object, 
however,  was  the  education  of  the  monkish  recluse 
and  of  the  regular  priest.  Until  this  was  attained, 
the  extension  of  education  into  the  secular  ranks 
was  manifestly  impossible.  Nay,  to  give  the  merest 
rudiments  of  learning  even  to  all  the  working  clergy 
was  beyond  the  power  of  the  mediaeval  machinery. 
/This  state  of  things  is  not  to  be  ascribed  so  mucfi( 
(to  the  waning  of  the  Benedictine  enthusiasm  as  to  the 
I  magnitude  of  the  task  to  be  accomplished,  the  in- 
adequacy of  the  instruments  available,  and  the  con-] 
jfused    state    of    Europe.      Meanwhile,   wherever    an 


RISE   OF  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS.  35 

ardent  ecclesiastic  wished  to  benefit  his  feliow-men, 
he  not  only  founded  a  monastery,  but  in  connection 
with  it  also,  in  most  cases,  a  school.  St.  Maur,  the 
chief  of  Benedict's  apostles,  and  St.  Columban,  both 
towards  the  close  of  the  sixth  century,  and  St.  Boni- 
face in  the  eighth,  were  in  this  way  powerful  agents  in 
the  civilization  of  Europe.  Even  when  their  schools 
were  of  little  importance,  the  monasteries  were  as 
lights  in  dark  places.  The  mere  example  of  men 
leading  a  religious,  studious,  orderly,  and  industrious 
life  was  itself  the  best  possible  education  to  the 
semi-barbarians  by  whom  the  young  communities 
were  surrounded. 

In  England,  meanwhile,  under  the  primacy  of  the 
learned  Theodore  of  Tarsus  (668-690),  and  the  teaching 
of  Irish  immigrants,  education  made  considerable  pro- 
gress in  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries.  Out  of  this 
revival  came  ^Elbert,  the  teacher  of  York  School,  his 
pupil  Alcuin,  and  also  the  Venerable  Bede,  who  died 
in  735.  Bede  says,  according  to  Newman,  that  in  his 
time  there  were  monks  in  England  who  knew  Latin 
and  Greek  as  well  as  they  knew  their  mother-tongue ; 
but,  according  to  Mullinger,  this  was  said  by  him  only 
of  Albinus,  who  was  taught  Greek  by  Theodore.  Bede 
himself  was  the  most  learned  and  scholarly  fruit  of 
the  revival.  "I  spent  my  whole  life/'  he  says,  "in 
the  same  monastery  [Jarrow,  in  Northumberland],  and, 
while  attentive  to  the  rule  of  my  order  and  the  service 
of  the  Church,  my  constant  pleasure  lay  in  learning 


36      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

or  teaching,  or  writing."  Alcuin,  also,  was  an  excellent 
product  of  the  learning  of  his  time.  In  himself, 
indeed,  he  was  a  summary  of  it.  Its  character  and 
its  scope  as  well  as  its  limitations  were  all  well  exem- 
plified in  him.  We  shall  meet  him  shortly  at  the 
court  of  Charlemagne.  It  was  to  Theodore  of  Tarsus 
and  his  school  at  Canterbury,  quite  as  much  as  to  the 
Irish  monks,  that  the  revival  in  England  seems  to 
have  been  due.  The  "  Greek "  period  at  St.  Galle 
was,  I  think,  short-lived,  and  the  knowledge  professed 
quite  elementary. 

In  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries,  again,  there 
was  a  revival  in  Spain,  but  the  limits  of  it  were  very 
restricted.  The  chief  fruit  of  it  was  Isidorus  (lumen 
Hispanioe),  who  died  in  636,  and  whose  long-cele- 
brated "  Origines  Etymological  " — an  encyclopaedia  of 
the  learning  of  the  time — formed  one  of  the  leading 
text-books  of  the  higher  education  all  through  the 
Middle  Ages. 

Cardinal  Newman,  through  his  enthusiastic  admira- 
tion of  certain  monasteries  and  monks,  allows  himself 
to  speak  of  the  state  of  learning  in  Europe  in  the  first 
half  of  the  Middle  Ages,  in  terms  which  will  not  bear 
a  moment's  investigation.  The  same  remark  applies  to 
Montalembert.  Progress  was  certainly  being  made,  and 
some  conventual  institutions  were,  in  truth,  colleges  of 
"all  learning,"  as  then  understood.  But  even  in  the  best 
of  these  education  seldom  went  beyond  the  trivium  ; 


RISE   OF  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS.  37 

and  even  this  was  pursued  in  a  barren  and  arid  spirit. 
Grammar,  rhetoric,  and  dialectic  were  certainly 
studied,  but  chiefly  in  bald  epitomes.  The  cost  of 
manuscript  books,  much  enhanced  by  the  high  price 
of  parchment  during  the  Middle  Ages,*  compelled 
the  monks  to  have  recourse  to  dictation,  the  scholars 
writing  down  on  tablets  and  learning  by  heart  what 
they  were  taught.  Nothing,  of  course,  was  questioned. 
The  youth  of  ancient  Greece  and  of  the  earlier  empire 
were  brought  into  contact  with  the  substance  of 
literature,  music,  and  eloquence  in  their  elementary 
and  grammar  schools  ;  and  those  who  continued  their 
studies  in  the  higher  schools  continued  to  occupy 
themselves  with  all  the  realities  of  knowledge.  The 
schools  of  the  Middle  Ages,  on  the  contrary,  in  the 
spirit  of  the  Carthaginian  decree,  forswore  literature 
and  reality,  and  were  disciplined  by  the  merely  formal 
and  instrumental,  and  this  in  its  most  barren  shape. 
The  only  "  realities,"  indeed,  were  Scripture  truth 
and  the  writings  of  the  Fathers ;  and  the  higher 
education  was  practically  confined  to  these,  f  A  few 
monks,  doubtless,  especially  in  England,  took  a  wider 
sweep,  and  studied  all  that  was  contained  in  the 
great  text-books  of  the  Middle  Ages  from  the  sixth 

*  Caused  by  the  occupation  of  Egypt  by  the  Saracens. 

f  "Caeterse  igitur  quaecunque  notiones  ac  scientiae  haud  aliter 
monachis  erant  in  pretio,  nisi  quatenus  ad  talem  finem  (ad  exercitium 
christianarum  religiosarumque  virtutum)  referebantur  et  quatenus  sibi 
ipsis  inservire  poterant  ut  praefatam  metam  attingerent  "  (Mabillon,  i.  p. 
5,  cited  by  Cramer  in  his  "  Gesch.  der  Erz.  u.  des  Unt.  in  dem  Nied.") 


38      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

to  the  thirteenth  century,  viz.  Boethius,  Isidorus,  and 
Martianus  Capella.*  They  thus  maintained  the  tra- 
dition of  the  seven  liberal  arts. 

On  the  whole,  the  episcopal  schools  or  seminaries, 
and  the  monastery  schools,  both  of  which  had  pro- 
mised well  in  the  sixth  century,  had  not  fulfilled 
their  promise.  Indeed,  they  had  retrograded  in  the 
seventh  and  eighth,  except  at  a  few  centres  in 
England,  though  their  number  had  increased.  Litera- 
ture, philosophy,  and  science  were  all  alike  forgotten. 
Even  the  language  of  the  Church — Latin — was  badly 
taught,  and  had  woefully  degenerated.  It  is  precisely 
at  this  time  that  we  find  the  beginnings  of  a  reform. 

*  Generally  denounced  by  the  European  Church  as  containing  the 
seeds  of  scepticism,  but  in  great  favour  with  the  Irish  monks. 


LECTURE  III. 

CHARLEMAGNE  AND  THE  NINTH  CENTURY. 

CHRODEGANG,  Bishop  of  Metz  (742-766),  endeavoured 
to  reform  the  episcopal  schools  by  setting  an  example 
of  a  strict  canonical  organization  in  connection  with 
his  Cathedral  Church.  But  the  influence  of  the 
canonical  rule  (a  modification  of  the  Benedictine  *), 
introduced  by  him,  was  for  long  very  restricted  in 
its  range,  and  we  are  entitled  to  say  that  the  edu- 
cation of  Europe  was  in  a  barbarous  state  when 
Charles  the  Great  (born  742,  died  814),  Emperor  of  the 
West,  and  crowned  Emperor  of  the  Romans  by  the 
pope,  endeavoured  to  revive  learning.  "  The  study  of 
letters,"  he  said,  "had  been  well-nigh  extinguished  by 
the  neglect  of  his  ancestors."  f  St.  Boniface,  coming 
from  England,  had  done  his  best  to  reform  an  episco- 
pate and  Church  already  flagrantly  corrupt,  while  at 
the  same  time  extending  the  bounds  of  Christianity 
among  the  Teutonic  races.     It  was  the  reform  and 

*  Adopted  in  816-17  by  the  General  Council  of  Aachen  after 
Charles's  death.     For  some  of  the  rules,  see  Skene,  ii.  6. 

f  "Constitutio  de  emendatione  librorum,"  etc.,  Baluze,  i.  204,  205, 
cited  by  Mr.  Mullinger,  p.  69. 


40      MED1MVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UN1VERSI1IES. 

extension  of  the  Church,  however,  and  only  inci- 
dentally of  the  school,  that  engaged  his  zeal.  Charle- 
magne, as  a  boy,  had  been  a  witness  of  his  work,  and 
when  he  ascended  the  throne  he  gave  effect  to  many 
of  his  ecclesiastical  views.  For  subjecting  the  trans- 
alpine churches  to  the  pope,  Charles  has  been  blamed, 
but  only  by  those  (it  seems  to  me)  whose  historical 
imagination  is  too  weak  to  enable  them  to  understand 
the  then  state  of  Europe. 

Charles  early  saw  that  without  a  more  thorough 
education  of  the  priesthood,  reforms,  however  well 
conceived,  would  be  evanescent,  and  he,  accordingly, 
devoted  himself  to  the  reorganization  and  extension  of 
the  episcopal  and  monastery  schools.  It  is  from  his 
capitularies,  and  his  life  by  Eginhard  (Einhard),  that 
we  obtain  the  most  trustworthy  information  of  the 
state  of  education  towards  the  close  of  the  eighth 
century,  when  the  reforms  began. 

In  one  of  these  capitularies  he  complains  of  the 
uncouth  and  illiterate  diction  of  the  letters  which  he 
received  even  from  monasteries  of  good  standing. 
He  found  also  that  a  large  number  of  the  manu- 
scripts of  the  Scriptures  were  almost  undecipherable 
owing  to  the  utter  ignorance  of  the  monkish  copyists. 
Charlemagne  himself  began  to  learn  to  write,  it  is 
said,  after  he  was  on  the  throne.*     To  his  court  at 

*  I  think  this  must  have  reference  to  writing  on  parchment  with 
pen  and  ink,  and  that  he  was  already  able  to  write  with  the  style  on 
waxen  tablets.  [Since  I  wrote  this,  I  see  that  the  suggestion  has  been 
made  by  others,  but  that  Mullinger  rejects  it.] 


CHARLEMAGNE  AND    THE  NINTH  CENTURY,      41 

Aix  he  invited  such  men  of  learning  as  could  be 
found.  Leidrade  of  Noricum  and  Alcuin  of  York  were 
his  chief  counsellors — the  latter  occupying  a  post 
which  we  should  now  designate  Minister  of  Public 
Instruction  and  of  Public  Worship. 

In  connection  with  the  emperor's  efforts,  a  story  is 
told  which  has  a  legendary  sound,  but  for  which  there 
seems  to  be  sufficient  evidence  to  justify  our  repeat- 
ing it,  as  it  is  narrated  by  Bulaeus,  on  the  authority 
of  a  treatise  published  about  half  a  century  after 
Charlemagne's  death.  The  incident  is  said  to  have 
been  communicated  to  the  writer  by  the  son  of  one 
of  Alcuin's  pupils.  When  Alcuin  was  already  at 
Charlemagne's  court  in  Aix-la-Chapelle,  two  Scoti, 
called  Claud  Clement  and  John  Melrose  (so  called 
from  the  town  of  Melrose*),  arrived  at  the  capital 
in  the  company  of  some  English  traders.  Amidst 
the  ordinary  cries  of  the  market-place  the  towns- 
people were  astonished  to  hear  the  two  Scotsmen 
calling  out,  "  If  any  one  wants  knowledge,  let  him 
come  to  us  and  get  it  ;  for  we  have  it  to  sell "  (Si 
quis  sapientiae  cupidus  est,  veniat  ad  nos,  et  accipiat 
earn  :  nam  venalis  est  apud  nos).    The  people  thought 

*  Notwithstanding  the  special  mention  of  the  town  of  Melrose,  both 
the  Scots  were  probably  Irishmen.  There  was  a  Columbite  monastery 
founded  by  Aidan  in  the  eighth  century,  at  Melrose,  which  was  destroyed 
about  834.  It  is  well  known  that  Irishmen  or  Scoti  were  always  to  be 
found  in  the  monasteries  of  Scotland  as  well  as  England.  It  is  not 
impossible,  however,  that  John  may  not  only  have  come  from  Melrose, 
but  have  been  an  Angle.     See  Skene's  "  Celtic  Scotland,"  ii.  5. 


42      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

the  men  mad.  But  the  incident  having  reached  the 
monarch's  ears,  he  sent  for  Clement  and  Melrose,  and 
asked  them  whether  they  really  had  knowledge  to 
sell,  and  what  they  asked  for  it.  They  replied  that 
they  had,  and  that  its  price  was  "  a  place  to  teach  it 
in,  pupils  to  learn  it,  and  needful  food  and  raiment." 
Charlemagne  accepted  their  services,  established  a 
schola  in  his  palace  under  Clement  and  Alcuin,  and 
taking  Melrose  with  him  to  his  Italian  wars,  settled 
him  as  superintendent  of  a  schola  at  Pavia. 

This  is  the  legendary  origin  of  the  Palace  or 
Palatine  School  for  members  of  the  court  and  their 
children,  and  indeed  open  to  all  who  were  desirous 
of  obtaining  education.  The  researches  of  Dom  Pitra 
seem  to  show  that  Charlemagne's  Palace  School  had 
been  anticipated  by  a  royal  school  at  Chartres  under 
Clotaire  II.  This  school  was  taught  by  Betharius, 
a  Roman  of  good  family,  who  had  been  trained 
at  Viviers,  the  school  of  Cassiodorus.  He  became 
Bishop  of  Chartres  in  594. 

Apart  from  legend,  we  know  that  Charles  met 
Alcuin  at  Padua,  in  Italy,  where  he  had  been  sent  on 
an  important  embassy  from  York,  and  urged  him,  then 
and  afterwards,  to  come  to  his  court  at  Aachen  and 
carry  out  educational  reforms.  This  invitation  was 
accepted  by  Alcuin  in  782.  Alcuin  was  the  pupil  of 
Albert,  Archbishop  of  York,  and  Egbert,  scholasticus 
there,  and  was  himself  headmaster  or  scholasticus  of 
the  Monastery  School  at  York  at  the  time  that  he 


CHARLEMAGNE  AND    THE  NINTH  CENTURY.      43 

yielded  to  Charles's  solicitations  to  leave  his  native 
country.  Peter  of  Pisa  seems  to  have  held  some  kind 
of  tutorial  post  at  the  court  of  Charles's  father,  but  he 
was  growing  old  and  had  little  or  nothing  to  do  with 
the  reformation  now  set  on  foot  by  the  emperor,  with 
the  help  of  Alcuin. 

In  my  last  lecture  I  adverted  to  the  revival 
in  England,  under  the  Greek  Primate  Theodore, 
seconded  by  Scots  immigrant  monks.  The  most 
important  fruit  of  that  revival  was  Bede,  the  North- 
umbrian, to  whom  I  referred  in  the  last  lecture, 
and  who  died  in  735.  Albinus,  for  a  time  teacher 
of  the  York  school,  a  learned  man,  was  the  friend 
and  coadjutor  of  Bede.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Egbert,  the  teacher  of  Alcuin.  Alcuin  was  thus 
one  of  the  last  products  of  the  English  revival,  and 
he  now  transferred  his  activities  to  the  Continent  of 
Europe. 

After  establishing  the  Palace  School,*  designed 
largely  for  the  laity,  and  letting  it  be  understood  that 
those  who  distinguished  themselves  as  scholars  would 
receive  promotion  in  the  state,  however  humble  their 
origin,  Charles  took  up  the  large  question  of  edu- 
cation in  his  empire  generally. 

Under  Alcuin's  advice,  he  issued  instructions  for 
the  reform  of  schools  in  787.  As  this  has  been  justly 
regarded    as   a    document   of    great   significance   in 

*  For  a  most  interesting  and  graphic  account  of  the  school,  I  would 
refer  the  reader  to  Mullinger's  "  Schools  of  Charles  the  Great." 


44      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES, 

educational    history,    I    shall    here    quote    it,    taking 
Mr.  Mullinger's  translation  *  : — 

u  Charles,  by  the  grace  of  God,  King  of  the 
Franks  and  of  the  Lombards,  and  Patrician  of  the 
Romans,  to  Bangulfus,  abbot,  and  to  his  whole 
congregation  and  the  faithful  committed  to  his 
charge :  Be  it  known  to  your  devotion,  pleasing  to 
God,  that  in  conjunction  with  our  faithful  we  have 
judged  it  to  be  of  utility  that,  in  the  bishoprics  and 
monasteries  committed  by  Christ's  favour  to  our 
charge,  care  should  be  taken  that  there  shall  be  not 
only  a  regular  manner  of  life  and  one  conformable  to 
holy  religion,  but  also  the  study  of  letters,  each  to 
teach  and  learn  them  according  to  his  ability  and  the 
divine  assistance.  For  even  as  due  observance  of  the 
rule  of  the  house  tends  to  good  morals,  so  zeal  on  the 
part  of  the  teacher  and  the  taught  imparts  order  and 
grace  to  sentences ;  and  those  who  seek  to  please 
God  by  living  aright  should  also  not  neglect  to  please 
him  by  right  speaking.  It  is  written,  '  By  thine  own 
words  shalt  thou  be  justified  or  condemned  ; '  and 
although  right  doing  be  preferable  to  right  speaking, 
yet  must  the  knowledge  of  what  is  right  precede  right 
action.  Every  one,  therefore,  should  strive  to  under- 
stand what  it  is  he  would  fain  accomplish ;  and  this 
right  understanding  will  be  the  sooner  gained 
according  as  the  utterances  of  the  tongue  are  free 
from  error.     And  if  false  speaking  is  to  be  shunned 

*  The  original  is  also  quoted  by  Mabillon,  part  i.  c.  9. 


CHARLEMAGNE  AND    THE  NINTH  CENTURY.      45 

by  all  men,  especially  should  it  be  shunned  by  those 
who  have  elected  to  be  the  servants  of  the  truth. 
During  past  years  we  have  often  received  letters  from 
different  monasteries,  informing  us  that  at  their  sacred 
services  the  brethren  offered  up  prayers  on  our 
behalf;  and  we  have  observed  that  the  thoughts 
contained  in  these  letters,  though  in  themselves  most 
just,  were  expressed  in  uncouth  language,  and  while 
pious  devotion  dictated  the  sentiments,  the  unlettered 
tongue  was  unable  to  express  them  aright.  Hence 
there  has  arisen  in  our  minds  the  fear  lest,  if  the  skill 
to  write  rightly  were  thus  lacking,  so  too  would  the 
power  of  rightly  comprehending  the  sacred  Scriptures 
be  far  less  than  was  fitting ;  and  we  all  know  that 
though  verbal  errors  be  dangerous,  errors  of  the 
understanding  are  yet  more  so.  We  exhort  you, 
therefore,  not  only  not  to  neglect  the  study  of  letters, 
but  to  apply  yourselves  thereto  with  perseverance 
and  with  that  humility  which  is  well  pleasing  to  God  ; 
so  that  you  may  be  able  to  penetrate  with  greater 
ease  and  certainty  the  mysteries  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures. For  as  these  contain  images,  tropes,  and 
similar  figures,  it  is  impossible  to  doubt  that  the 
reader  will  arrive  far  more  readily  at  the  spiritual 
sense  according  as  he  is  the  better  instructed  in 
learning.  Let  there,  therefore,  be  chosen  for  this 
work  men  who  are  both  able  and  willing  to  learn, 
and^also  desirous  of  instructing  others ;  and  let  them 
apply  themselves  to  the  work  with  a  zeal  equalling 


46      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

the   earnestness   with    which    wc    recommend    it   to 
them. 

"It  is  our  wish  that  you  may  be  what  it  behoves") 
the  soldiers  of  the  Church  to  be,— religious  in  heart, 
learned  in  discourse,  pure  in  act,  eloquent  in  speech ; 
so  that  all  who  approach  your  house,  in  order  to 
invoke  the  Divine  Master  or  to  behold  the  excellence 
of  the  religious  life,  may  be  edified  in  beholding  you, 
and  instructed  in  hearing  you  discourse  or  chant,  and 
may  return  home  rendering  thanks  to  God  most  high. 

"  Fail  not,  as  thou  regardest  our  favour,  to  send  a 
copy  of  this  letter  to  all  thy  suffragans  and  to  all  the 
monasteries ;  and  let  no  monk  go  beyond  his  mon- 
astery to  administer  justice,  or  to  enter  the  assemblies 
and  the  voting-places.     Adieu." 

Teachers  of  singing,  arithmetic,  and  grammar 
were  about  the  same  time  imported  from  Rome  that 
they  might  visit  the  monasteries  and  help  to  revive 
the  teaching. 

In  789  Charles  again  sent  out  an  edict  to  the 
heads  of  monasteries  and  to  the  clergy,  enjoining 
them  to  look  out  for  boys  to  train  as  priests  and 
monks,  not  only  among  the  sons  of  slaves  as  hereto- 
fore, but  of  freemen.  He  further  requires  that  in  con- 
nection with  every  episcopal  see  and  every  monastery 
there  shall  be  a  school  for  instruction  in  the  psalms, 
singing,  notation,  counting,  and  the  Latin  tongue, 
and  that  the  pupils  shall  be  supplied  with  accurately 
transcribed  text-books.* 

*  Mullineer  and  Viriville. 


CHARLEMAGNE  AND   THE  NINTH  CENTURY.      47 

Alcuin,  having  resigned  the  mastership  of  the 
Palace  School,  was  appointed  to  the  abbacy  of  St. 
Martin  de  Tours  in  796,  and  raised  the  school  there 
to  so  high  a  reputation,  that  scholars  flocked  to  it 
from  all  parts  of  the  Continent,  as  well  as  from  Eng- 
land and  Ireland.  Alcuin's  influence  was  thereby 
greatly  increased,  but,  while  it  was  of  a  kind  doubt- 
less to  suit  his  time,  it  was  certainly  not  of  a  liberal 
character,  owing  to  his  distrust  of  all  pagan  literature. 
He  was  an  estimable  man,  and  a  good  administrator, 
but  of  no  original  genius,  and  cast  in  a  monastic 
mould. 

By  appointing  Leidrade  of  Noricum  to  the  see  of 
Lyons  (798),  and  Theodulf  of  Italy  to  that  of  Orleans 
(794),  Charles  secured  for  his  educational  schemes 
potent  ministers  under  Alcuin.  Theodulf  not  only 
founded  important  schools,  but  he  issued  to  the  clergy 
of  his  diocese  an  order  to  institute  schools  in  the 
burghs  and  villages  where  the  faithful  might  receive 
elementary  instruction  gratuitously. 

The  emperor  was  fond  of  music,  and  promoted  the 
reform  of  Church  singing,  introducing  the  Gregorian 
chants,  and,  it  is  said,  also  the  organ.  His  services 
to  literature  include  a  collection  of  Gothic  songs  and 
verses ;  and  a  collection  of  all  the  best  passages  from 
the  Fathers  which  he  appointed  to  be  read  in  churches 
has  to  be  specially  noted  (Capitulary  of  78$).  In  law 
he  endeavoured  to  apply  the  Theodosian  Code.  He 
is  also  said  to  have  studied  the  works  of  Vitruvius, 


48      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

and  with  his  own  hand  to  have  prepared  the  design 
of  the  imperial  palace. 

I  have  said  that  Alcuin's  views  of  education  were 
of  a  narrow  and  monastic  character.  This  statement 
has,  however,  to  be  slightly  qualified.  His  position — 
at  least,  in  the  vigour  of  his  manhood — was  more 
nearly  allied  to  that  of  St.  Augustine  than  to  that  of 
the  "Apostolical  Constitutions."  In  one  of  his  letters 
(quoted  by  Specht,  p.  47)  he  writes,  "  The  knowledge 
of  worldly  sciences  is  not  to  be  despised,  since  they 
lay  the  foundation  of  further  study.  Therefore 
ought  children  even  of  the  tenderest  age  to  be 
instructed  in  grammar  and  the  other  disciplines  of 
subtle  world-wisdom,  in  order  that  they  may  be  in  a 
position,  as  on  the  steps  of  the  ladder,  to  climb  the 
highest  peaks  of  evangelical  perfection."  In  his  old 
age,  however,  he  proscribed  Virgil.  His  most  distin- 
guished pupil,  too,  Rabanus  Maurus,  who  did  vigorous 
work  in  educational  reform,  inherited  similar  views. 
In  his  book  on  the  education  of  the  clergy,  he 
quotes  St.  Augustine  with  full  concurrence.  In  so 
far  as  ancient  studies  were  to  be  followed  at  all, 
they  were  to  be  followed  only  as  a  propaedeutic  to 
the  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

The  reforms  initiated  by  the  great  emperor  were 
not  arrested  by  Alcuin's  death  in  804,  and  his  own 
death  ten  years  later.  Lewis  the  Pious,  an  admirable, 
though  unwarlike  prince,  continued  to  push  forward 
reforms,  especially  the  improvement  of  the  monastic 


CHARLEMAGNE  AND   THE  NINTH  CENTURY.      49 

discipline.  The  Council  of  Chalons  had,  in  813, 
enjoined  the  foundation  of  additional  schools  for  the 
cultivation  of  learning  and  the  study  of  the  Scriptures. 
In  817  the  Council  of  Aachen  required  that  only  those 
who  had  taken  the  monastic  vows  {pblati)  should  be 
admitted  to  the  schools  within  the  monastery  walls 
{scholce  clanstrales\  the  regular  clergy  and  others 
being  confined  to  the  "  exterior "  schools.  The 
episcopal  schools  also  received  a  great  impulse. 
Among  the  most  famous  of  these  were  the  schools 
of  Orleans  and  Rheims  :  a  certain  tradition  of  learn- 
ing was  for  long  preserved  at  the  latter,  and  about 
the  year  1000  it  was,  under  Gerbert,  celebrated. 
But  the  monastery  schools  were  always  the  most 
learned,  and  some  of  these  attained  a  high  reputation. 
The  great  Abbey  of  St.  Riquier  had  a  library  of  230 
volumes.  The  most  famous  of  the  "  exterior  "  schools 
was  that  afterwards  established  at  Fleury-sur-Loire  by 
Charles  the  Bald  in  855.  It  was  attended  by  laymen. 
Pope  John  VIIL,  in  a  Bull  of  &j%,  speaks  of  it  in 
complimentary  terms.  Such  was  the  work  done 
under  the  influence  given  by  Charlemagne. 

Some  seem  to  think  that  by  the  constitution 
of  the  Palace  School,  and  the  extension  and  reform 
of  important  schools  at  Bologna,  Pavia,  and  Paris, 
Charles  contributed  to  lay  the'  foundations  of  the 
university  movement  three  hundred  years  later.  For 
at  these  schools  it  became,  through  imperial  influence, 
the  custom  for  laymen  to  attend  who  had  no  intcn- 


50     MED1MVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

t**on  of  preparing  themselves  for  ecclesiastical  life, 
The  revival  of  secular  quadrivial  studies  at  these 
places  and  the  prospect  of  civil  employment  made 
education  more  attractive  to  the  lay  adolescent  mind. 
They  had  all  the  characteristics  of  "  public "  schools. 
Bulaeus  considers  that  Charlemagne  had  distinctly 
before  his  mind  such  schools  as  had  existed  in  Alex- 
andria and  Athens,  and  subsequently  under  the  Roman 
empire  at  Rom^,  Constantinople,  and  Berytus,  and 
which  were  practically  privileged  and  endowed  uni- 
versities. The  idea  which  he  aimed  at  realizing  was, 
according  to  this  view,  that  of  a  studium  generate :  "  not 
that  he  deprived  monks  of  the  licence  to  teach  and 
profess,  though  he  certainly  limited  it,  from  a  clear 
view  that  that  variety  of  sciences,  human  and  profane, 
which  secular  academies  require  is  inconsistent  with  the 
profession  and  devotion  of  ascetics  ;  and  accordingly, 
in  conformity  to  the  spirit  of  their  institute,  it  was 
his  wish  that  the  lesser  schools  should  be  set  up 
or  retained  in  the  bishops'  palaces  and  in  monasteries, 
while  he  prescribed  the  subjects  which  they  were  to 
teach.  The  case  was  different  with  the  schools 
which  are  higher  and  public,  and  which,  instead  of 
multiplying,  he  confined  to  certain  central  and  cele- 
brated spots,  not  more  than  three  in  his  whole 
empire — Paris,  Pavia,  and  Bologna."  *  I  can  find  no 
evidence  that  Charles  or  his  advisers  had  so  large  an 
aim  ;  but  certainly  one  of  the  results  of  his  action, 

*  Bulaeus,  as  quoted  by  Newman,  cap.  xiii.  of  "  Historical  Studies." 


CHARLEMAGNE  AND   THE  NINTH  CENTURY.      51 

especially  his  concentration  of  eminent  teachers  at 
important  centres,  might  have  suggested  to  others  a 
studium  generate. 

And  we  may  even  say  that,  had  the  time  been 
propitious,  the  central  schools  which  Charles  endea- 
voured to  institute  for  the  study  of  the  whole  circle 
of  the  arts  and  sciences  as  then  known  might  have 
developed  into  universities  of  the  old  Hellenic,  Roman, 
and  Alexandrian  type.  It  is  certain,  however,  that 
such  institutions  of  the  higher  learning  could  not,  in 
the  ninth  century,  have  permanently  held  their  own 
in  Europe  without  large  permanent  endowments  as 
well  as  a  continuance  of  powerful  royal  protection. 
These,  indeed,  are  the  two  conditions  of  the  main- 
tenance of  learning  in  a  state — endowments  and 
privilege.  By  "learning"  we  mean  the  pursuit  of 
knowledge  for  its  own  sake,  and  without  reference  to 
its  value  in  the  economic  market.  The  enthusiasm 
of  a  few  may  initiate  an  institution  ;  but  law,  privilege, 
organization,  and  endowment  can  alone  make  it 
endure.  We  shall  in  the  sequel  see  that  the  existence 
of  the  modern  university  was  made  possible,  spite  of 
the  lack  of  endowments,  only  by  the  introduction 
into  them  of  a  new  idea — the  economic.  They  may 
be  said  to  have  produced  commodities  which  mankind 
needed  for  daily  use,  and  sold  them.  Charles  had 
many  communications  with  the  East,  and  might  have 
been  influenced,  it  has  been  suggested,  by  the  Uni- 
versity of  Constantinople.     But,  as  it  was  yearly  half 


52      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

a  century  after  his  death  that  this  university  was 
refounded  by  Michael  III.,  we  may  conclude  that  at 
the  height  of  Charles's  activity  it  had  shared  in  the 
general  decadence  of  education. 

The  efforts  of  Charlemagne  were  imitated  in 
England,  half  a  century  after  the  emperor's  death, 
by  Alfred,  who  died  in  the  first  year  of  the  tenth 
century.  He  himself  tells  us  that  he  knew  no  priest 
south  of  the  Thames  who  understood  the  meaning  of 
the  Latin  prayers  which  he  used.  Nor  did  England 
stand  alone  in  its  ignorance,  for  though  Latin  was 
the  universal  language  of  the  Church,  not  one  priest 
in  a  thousand  in  Spain  could  at  that  time  write  a 
simple  letter  in  the  Latin  tongue.  I  suppose  that  the 
term  "  priests,"  as  used  by  Alfred,  is  not  intended  to 
include  monks ;  for,  notwithstanding  the  destruction 
caused  by  the  Danish  invasions,  many  Benedictine 
monasteries  had  continued  to  be  centres  of  a  restricted, 
certainly,  but  still  genuine  study  of  Latin  and  the 
Scriptures.  Very  restricted  it  must  have  been,  if  we 
are  to  believe  Alfred  himself,  who  says,  "  Formerly  men 
came  hither  from  foreign  lands  to  seek  for  instruction  ; 
and  now,  when  we  desire  it,  we  can  only  obtain  it  from 
abroad."  *  The  king  himself  was  a  scholar,  and  the 
father  of  English  prose.  He  is  said  to  have  gone 
to  the  Benedictine  school  at  Oxford  to  complete  his 

*  Green's  "Kist.,"  i.  79. 


CHARLEMAGNE  AND   THE  NINTH  CENTURY.     53 

studies  in  dialectic,  rhetoric,  music,  and  versification.* 
He  also  instituted  a  Palace  School,  calling  to  his 
assistance  foreign  scholars  —  Grimbold  from  Nor- 
mandy, and  Scotus  Erigena  who  had  by  this  time 
left  the  Palace  School  of  Charlemagne,  to  which  he 
had  succeeded.  In  his  preface  to  the  translation  of 
the  pastoral  of  St.  Gregory,  he  urges  all  his  people, 
where  circumstances  in  any  way  admitted  of  it,  to 
give  their  children  at  least  the  elements  of  learning. 

Owing  to  the  social  state  of  England  and  the 
renewed  invasions  of  the  Danes,  the  schools,  which 
Alfred  stimulated  into  activity,  soon  declined.  His 
attempted  revival  was,  like  that  of  Charlemagne  on 
the  Continent,  short-lived  in  its  effects  ;  and  we  find 
'Archbishop  Lancfranc  in  1089,  under  the  Norman 
rule,  issuing  decrees  for  the  reorganization  of  the 
schools,  which  had  fallen  into  decay — decrees  which 
contemplate  the  instruction  of  both  rich  and  poor. 

We  have  been  speaking  of  education  in  its  external 
aspects.  Let  us  now  look  for  a  little  at  the  inner 
work  of  the  mediaeval  schools  during  the  centuries 
which  we  have  been  passing  in  review. 

*  This,  however,  is  now,  I  fear,  to  be  regarded  as  a  later  inter- 
polation in  Asser's  "Life  of  Alfred,"  in  the  interests  of  the  antiquity 
of  Oxford  University. 


54      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 


LECTURE  IV. 

\ 

INNER   WORK   OF  CHRISTIAN   SCHOOLS 

(a.d.  450-1100). 

In  a  previous  lecture  I  called  your  attention  to  the 
rise  of  the  episcopal  schools  for  the  preparation  of 
the  Christian  clergy  (first  in  Alexandria),  and  pointed 
out  that,  with  the  decay  and  final  disappearance  oL 
the  Romano-Hellenic  institutions,  these  schools  neces- 
sarily grew  in  importance  and  in  the  range  of  their 
teaching.  When  these  took  final  shape,  the  master, 
who  was  a  canon  of  the  cathedral,  was  called  Scholas- 
ticus,  and  the  chancellor  of  the  cathedral  exercised, 
speaking  generally,  a  certain  supervision  over  them 
and  any  other  schools  for  the  clergy  that  might  arise 
in  the  diocese.  For  many  churches  had  at  a  later 
period  connected  with  them  "  foundation  "  schools, 
which  were  for  the  most  part  also  collegiate  institu- 
tions. These  cathedral  or  episcopal  schools,  no  less 
than  the  monastery  schools,  received  a  powerful 
impulse  from  the  activity  of  Charles  and  Lewis. 
Orleans,  indeed,  was  so  famous  that,  three  hundred 


INNER    WORK  OF  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS.  55 

years  after,  it  grew  into  a  university  of  law  ;  and 
had  it  not  been  for  the  more  favourable  conditions, 
political  and  geographical,  of  Paris,  we  should  pro- 
bably have  had  to  look  back  to  a  university  of  Rheims 
as  the  mother  of  European  universities. 

The  monastic  schools,  however,  from  the  time  of 
Cassian  onwards,  always  took  the  lead  in  education. 
Speaking  generally,  the  episcopal  schools  occupied  a 
lower  place. 

In  reviewing  the  instruction  given  at  these  schools, 
it  may  be  desirable,  for  greater  clearness,  to  adopt  the 
modern  division  of  education  into  Primary,  Secondary, 
and  Higher. 

Primary  Instruction. 

Instruction  began  about  the  age  of  seven.  The 
alphabet,  written  on  tables  or  leaves,  was  learned  by 
heart  by  the  children,  then  syllables  and  words.  The 
first  reading-book  was  the  Latin  psalter,  and  this 
was  read  again  and  again  until  it  could  be  said  by 
heart,  and  any  failure  on  the  part  of  choir-boys  to 
recite  or  sing  accurately  was  severely  punished.  The 
psalter  was  read  and  learned  by  heart,  at  first  without 
being  understood  ;  and  numerous  priests,  and  even 
monks,  were  content  all  their  lives  with  the  mere 
sound  of  the  Latin  words,  which  they  could  both 
read  and  recite,  but  did  not  understand. 

Writing  followed  reading.  There  were  two  stages. 
In  the  first,  the  boys  were  taught  to  write  with  a  style 


56      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

on  wax-covered  tablets,  imitating  copies  set  by  the 
master ;  and  in  the  second,  or  advanced  stage,  they 
learned  to  write  with  pen  and  ink  on  parchment — an 
accomplishment  highly  prized  in  days  when  books 
were  multiplied  by  hand-copying. 

Singing  of  the  Church  services  was  also  taught 
to  all  the  boys,  and  great  importance  was  attached 
to  this,  especially  after  the  time  of  Charlemagne,  who 
introduced  the  Gregorian  chants  north  of  the  Alps. 
The  elements  of  arithmetic  were  also  taught,  but 
merely  with  a  view  to  the  calculation  of  Church  days 
and  festivals. 

Latin  was  begun  very  early  (apparently  imme- 
diately after  the  psalter  was  known),  with  the  learning 
by  heart  of  declensions  and  conjugations  and  lists  of 
vocables.  The  rule  was  to  use  Latin  in  the  school 
in  conversing.  But  it  is  quite  clear,  from  the  known 
ignorance  of  the  clergy,  that  this  was  not  always  done. 
Probably  it  was  attempted  only  in  the  "inner" 
claustral  schools.  It  is  specially  noted  of  the  school 
which  stood  among  the  highest  in  reputation — that 
of  St.  Galle — that  all,  save  some  inferior  boys,  spoke 
Latin  with  each  other  in  the  school.  In  the  eleventh 
century,  if  not  earlier,  Latin  conversation-books, 
having  reference  to  the  ordinary  events  of  life,  were 
not  only  read,  but,  like  everything  else,  learned  by 
heart.  The  merest  elements,  however,  of  Latin  were 
alone  taught,  except  in  the  case  of  monks. 


INNER    WORK  OF  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS.  57 

Secondary  Instruction. 

The  higher  instruction  generally  aimed  at  giving 
the  pupil  a  knowledge  of  the  seven  liberal  arts — the 
trivium  and  quadrivium  of  the  Romano-Hellenic 
schools.  Compendiums  were  written  and  learnt ; 
these,  however,  were  very  often  so  dry  and  brief,  that 
the  pupil  knew  nothing  more  than  the  name  and 
contents  of  the  Arts  studies.  The  instruction  was 
arranged  in  the  form  of  question  and  answer. 

But  during  the  years  devoted  to  what  we  now  call 
secondary  instruction,  the  time  of  the  student  was 
devoted  mainly  to  the  Latin  language.  Grammar 
was  regarded  as  the  basis  of  all  other  studies.  In 
the  court  of  Charlemagne  there  was  a  much-admired 
painting,  which  represented  the  seven  liberal  arts,  and 
in  which  Grammar  was  represented  as  the  queen, 
sitting  under  the  tree  of  knowledge  with  a  crown  on 
her  head,  a  knife  in  her  right,  hand  with  which  to 
scratch  out  errors,  and  a  thong  in  her  left.  The 
thong  was  supposed  to  symbolize  the  supremacy  of 
grammar  in  the  schools  ;  it  may,  however,  have 
symbolized  the  discipline  of  the  time.  That  grammar 
— which  was  defined  as  the  art  of  explaining  poets  and 
historians,  and  of  speaking  and  writing  correctly — 
should  occupy  the  greater  part  of  the  student's  time 
was  to  be  expected,  as  Latin  was  to  all  a  foreign 
tongue,  which  they  were  expected  to  make  completely 
theii  own.     The  grammars  most  approved  down  even 


58      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

to  the  thirteenth  century  were  those  of  Donatus  and 
Priscian — the  book  first  used  being  the  Ars  Minor, 
written  in  question  and  answer  by  the  former  writer : 
few  went  beyond  this  book.  Numerous  abridgments 
of  Donatus  were  made,  and  widely  used.  The  teachers 
had,  of  course,  to  explain  the  meaning  of  the  gram- 
matical rules  in  the  vernacular.  Books  were  scarce, 
and  in  the  majority  of  cases  the  teacher  alone  had  a 
copy  of  the  book  from  which  he  taught.  This  he 
dictated,  and  the  boys  wrote  down  what  he  said  on 
their  waxen  tablets,  and  learnt  it  by  heart  with  a  loud 
voice.  Hence  the  word  legere  came  to  be  used  as 
equivalent  to  docere.  The  boys,  when  they  could  write 
with  pen  and  ink,  transferred  what  was  on  their  tablets 
to  parchment,  and  so  gradually  wrote  their  own  text- 
book.    The  more  advanced  studied  prosody. 

The  youths  then  (at  least  after  the  eleventh 
century,  if  not  before)  wrote  down  and  learned  by 
heart  the  fables  of  ^Esop,  and  collections  of  maxims 
and  proverbs.  After  this,  Virgil  was  usually  the  text- 
book, and  was  handled  in  the  same  style.  Christian 
poets  such  as  Juvencus  and  Sedulius,  and,  above  all, 
Prudentius,  were  widely  read.  But  even  the  poets 
were  used  mainly  for  grammatical  purposes.  Ovid 
sometimes  found  his  way  into  the  schools.  In  some 
of  the  more  celebrated  institutions  we  find,  in  the 
tenth  century,  other  Roman  poets  prescribed,  and 
even  in  the  eighth  century  these  were  read  in  the 
school  of  York,  as  we  know  from  Alcuin. 


INNER    WORK  OF  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS.  59 

The  master  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  higher 
instruction  explained  the  Latin  authors  in  the  ver- 
nacular ;  but  the  more  advanced  scholars  had  ex- 
planations given  them  in  Latin,  and  were  required 
to  show  that  they  understood  the  author  by  rendering 
him  in  Latin  prose.  The  main  object  always  kept 
in  view  was  a  practical  command  of  the  Latin  tongue 
— not  literature  or  art.  Vocabularies  of  the  less 
common  words  were  introduced  as  the  boys  advanced. 
It  was  not  in  all  schools,  but  only  in  the  more  ad- 
vanced, and  especially  those  under  the  influence  of 
the  Irish  or  Scots  school  of  monks,  that  such  authors 
as  Virgil  were  tolerated. 

In  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries  we  find  mention 
made  of  Greek,  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  any 
but  the  most  elementary  knowledge  of  this  language 
was  possessed,  except  by  a  monk  here  and  there. 
In  the  Irish  monasteries  more  attention  was  paid  to 
Greek,  especially  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries. 
Quotations  from  Greek  authors  are  no  evidence  of 
a  knowledge  of  Greek.  These  were  generally  to  be 
found  in  some  of  the  Fathers,  from  whom  they  were 
appropriated.  Even  Scotus  Erigena's  knowledge  of 
Greek  was  very  limited.  His  knowledge  of  Plato 
was  apparently  chiefly  obtained  from  such  Latin 
translations  as  existed. 

Written  exercises  (called  diet  amino)  were  regularly 
shown  up  in  both  prose  and  verse  in  the  more  ad- 
vanced classes.     A  good  metrical  exercise  seems  to 


60      MEDIALVAL   EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

have  been  regarded  in  the  more  learned  schools  as 
the  highest  kind  of  linguistic  accomplishment. 

Rhetoric,  to  which  so  much  importance  was  at- 
tached in  the  Romano-Hellenic  schools,  received  little 
or  no  attention.  In  so  far  as  it  was  studied,  it  was 
taught  by  means  of  such  of  Cicero's  writings  as  were 
known,  especially  "Rhetorica  ad  Herennium."  The 
writing  of  letters  and  public  documents  in  good  form 
was,  however,  practised  and  reduced  to  a  system. 
Young  ecclesiastics  looked  forward  to  employment 
as  secretaries  at  royal  courts  and  in  noble  houses,  and 
hence  the  attention  paid  to  the  teaching  of  corre- 
spondence. In  a  letter  of  importance,  the  following 
order  of  composition  had  to  be  observed,  viz.  Salutatio; 
Cap  tat  to  ;  Benevolentia  ;  Nar  ratio  ;  Fetitio  ;  Conch  is  io. 

There  were,  of  course,  among  the  monks,  as  among 
teachers  now,  some  who  had  a  larger  conception  of 
their  work  than  others.  John  of  Salisbury,  in  giving 
an  account  of  the  teaching  of  a  distinguished  monk 
of  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century — Bernard  de 
Chartres — tells  us  that  he  accustomed  his  pupils  to 
apply  the  rules  of  grammar  to  the  texts  they  read, 
that  he  directed  their  attention  to  delicacies  of  lan- 
guage and  beauty  of  expression,  to  the  aptness  of 
terms  and  metaphors,  and  the  disposition  of  the  argu- 
ment. He  criticized  the  varieties  of  style  of  different 
authors,  and  took  advantage  of  allusions  to  give  much 
collateral  instruction.  He  also  exercised  his  pupils 
daily  in  writing  Latin  prose  and  verse,  and  required 


INNER    WORK  OF  CHRISTIAN  SCHCOLS.  61 

them  to  learn  fine  passages  by  heart.  This,  it  will  be 
seen,  was  applied  rhetoric  as  well  as  grammar,  and 
indeed  constitutes  what  we  now  understand  by 
training  in  the  humanities.  No  doubt  this  was  an 
exceptional  school,  and  it  existed  after  the  uni- 
versity movement  had  begun.  It  is  certain  that 
no  better  teaching  than  this  of  Bernard  flourished 
in  the  baccalaurean  classes  of  the  universities  either 
in  the  twelfth  or  any  succeeding  century  until  the 
revival  of  letters,  if  even  then. 

The  study  of  law,  the  Theodosian  Code — 
especially  after  the  seventh  century — and  of  such 
canon  law  as  had  grown  up,  was  prosecuted  in 
some  monasteries.  Ecclesiastics,  as  I  have  stated, 
were  employed  at  courts,  and  in  the  houses  of  the 
nobility,  as  secretaries  and  notaries,  and  it  was  worth 
while  for  those  who  had  a  leaning  towards  legal 
studies  to  prepare  themselves  for  such  offices. 

Higher  Instruction. 

The  elements  of  logic  were  sometimes  taught  in 
the  secondary  or  trivial  course,  but,  practically, 
under  the  name  of  dialectic,  logic  was  a  quadrivial 
study.  Dialectic  was  taught  out  of  the  books 
which  I  have  named  in  a  previous  lecture  as  the 
great  repertories  of  the  higher  instruction  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  viz.  Cassiodorus,  Isidorus,  Martianus 
Capella,  and  Boethius.  Latin  versions  of  the  Cate- 
gories and  Porphyry's  Introduction  formed  the  utmost 


62      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

range  of  the  study,  so  far  as  it  was  Aristotelian,  until 
the  twelfth  century.  Alcuin's  "Compendium  of  Logic" 
gives  the  course  of  instruction  in  the  best  schools. 
In  the  eleventh  century,  dialectic  began  to  receive 
more  attention,  especially  at  the  great  school  of 
Rheims,  and  logical  disputations  began  to  be  prac- 
tised among  the  pupils.  Complaints,  indeed,  were 
made  by  some  that  dialectic  regarding  Scripture  was 
in  more  repute  than  the  words  of  Scripture  itself. 

The  traditionary  quadrivium — arithmetic,  geo- 
metry, music,  and  astronomy — were  regarded,  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  as  being  all  branches  of  mathematics.* 
Ordinary  calculation,  as  I  have  stated,  was  taught 
in  the  elementary  stage  of  education.  The  arithmetic 
and  astronomy  of  the  most  advanced  was,  as  a  rule, 
only  such  a  knowledge  of  both  as  enabled  the  scholar 
to  calculate  Easter  and  the  other  festival  days  of 
the  Church.  The  more  capable,  however,  studied 
arithmetic  as  that  is  contained  in  the  treatise  of 
Boethius  ("  Institutio  Arithmetica ").  The  want  of 
the  Arabic  numerals  made  arithmetic  no  easy  task 
for  the  pupil. 

Astronomy  consisted  in  a  knowledge  of  the  names 
and  courses  of  the  stars,  constellations,  etc. 

Music  in  the  quadrivial  course  exhausted  all  that 
was  known  on  the  subject,  and  the  range  of  study 
may  be  seen  in  "Boethius  de  Musica,"  the  great 
authority  for  a  thousand  years.     There  is  a  sentence 

*  Rabanus  Maurus,  as  quoted  by  Specht,  p.  127, 


INNER    WORK  OF  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS.  63 

in  Boethius  which  anticipates  the  modern  physics  of 
sound. 

The  geometry  and  mensuration  taught  was  very 
elementary  until  the  twelfth  century.  The  furthest 
range  of  the  study  did  not  exceed  four  books  of 
Euclid,  and  it  might  rather  be  called  geography,  as 
contained  in  the  sixth  book  of  the  encyclopaedia  of 
Martianus  Capella.  In  a  few  schools  it  embraced  all 
that  was  known  of  the  physical  features  of  the  earth, 
of  races  of  men,  and  of  natural  history. 

All  these  studies  had  in  view  one  object,  the 
proper  understanding  of  Holy  Scripture.  The  study 
of  the  Scriptures  themselves,  and  of  such  of  the 
Fathers  as  could  be  got  (or  extracts  from  them), 
was  the  governing  subject  in  the  whole  scholastic 
system.  Every  study  was  estimated  by  its  bearing 
on  the  Bible,  and  limited  by  the  needs  of  the 
theologian. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  quadrivial  studies 
were  much  pursued.  It  would  be  a  mistake  to 
conclude  that  even  trivial  studies  were  prosecuted  in 
the  Romano-Hellenic  sense.  Speaking  of  Cambridge 
at  so  late  a  period  as  the  first  decades  of  the  twelfth 
century,  Mr.  Mullinger  sums  up  the  work  of  the 
school  there  as  composed  of  the  elements  of  Priscian 
or  Donatus,  and  the  reading  of  some  portions  of 
Terence,  Boethius,  and  Orosius  ;  and,  so  far  as  I  can 
see,  this  meagre  diet  was  the  usual  curriculum  of 
schools  up  to  the  rise  of  universities.  The  much 
7 


64      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

and  deservedly  lauded  course  of  instruction  given 
by  Gerbert  at  Rheims,  about  iooo  A.D.,  seems  to 
have  been  simply  a  full  and  extended  trivium.  The 
course  was  as  follows :  First,  dialectic,  including 
translations  of  the  "  Isagoge "  of  Porphyry,  and 
Aristotle  on  the  Predicaments ;  u  De  Interpretatione  ; " 
Cicero's  "Topics,"  and  Boethius  on  the  same  subject ; 
and,  finally,  the  doctrine  of  the  syllogism.  Before 
going  to  rhetoric  Gerbert  read  Virgil,  Statius,  Terence, 
Juvenal,  Persius,  Horace,  and  Lucan,  and,  thereafter, 
introduced  his  students  to  rhetoric.  A  curriculum 
so  full  as  this  is  recorded  because  it  was  quite  ex- 
ceptional, as  was  the  man  who  gave  it. 

Speaking  generally,  the  course  of  instruction 
which  I  have  sketched  above  is  to  be  regarded  as 
the  ideal  course,  here  and  there,  and  at  different  times, 
realized  in  one  department  of  knowledge  or  another. 
I  doubt  if  it  would  be  possible  to  name  one  school, 
save,  perhaps,  that  of  St.  Galle,  where  the  full 
curriculum  actually  existed.  There  was,  however,  an 
approximation  to  it,  but  this  of  a  fluctuating  character, 
at  other  centres,  such  as  Fulda,  Lerins,  Orleans, 
Rheims,  Canterbury,  and  York.  It  was  at  Galle 
chiefly  that  Greek  was  studied,  and  those  who  devoted 
themselves  to.  the  language  went  by  the  name  of 
fratres  HellenicL 

It  was  customary  for  youths  who  had  exhausted 
the  instruction  given  at  their  own  monasteries,  to 
resort  to  the  few  more  learned  centres.     Perhaps  the 


INNER    WORK  OF  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS.  65 

most  important  of  these  in  England  in  the  eighth 
and  ninth  centuries  was  York.  We  have  it  on 
Alcuin's  authority  that  the  library  there  contained 
the  works  of  Aristotle,  Pliny,  Cicero,  Virgil,  Statius, 
and  Lucan,  and  he  himself  frequently  quotes  from 
these  authors,  and  from  Ovid,  Horace,  and  Terence. 
But  the  expression  "  works "  does  not  necessarily 
mean  all  the  works. 

The  only  institution  which  for  a  time  was  rather 
aristocratic  in  its  character  was  that  of  Tours. 
It  is  not  an  exaggeration  to  say,  that  both  in  the 
exterior  monastic  and  the  episcopal  schools  the  sons 
of  serfs  and  nobles  might  often  be  found  sitting  side 
by  side. 

I  have  already  referred  more  than  once  to  the  great 
text-books  of  the  Middle  Ages — the  writings  of  Capella, 
Boethius,  and  Isidore.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  were 
not  text-books,  but  authorities — consulted  by  many, 
read  by  few  even  of  the  best  educated.  I  think  a 
more  detailed  account  of  these  authors  than  is  .usually 
given  will  help  to  give  clearer  notions  of  the  range  of 
mediaeval  knowledge. 

Martianus  Capella. — This  book,  if  we  deduct 
the  space  occupied  by  notes,  covers  three  hundred 
pages  i2mo,  in  the  edition  before  me.*  It  consists 
of  eight  books,  but  goes  generally  by  a  name  strictly 
applicable  only  to  the  two  first  books,  viz.  "  De  Nuptiis 
Philologiae  et  Mercurii."    It  is  interspersed  with  verses, 

*  Edition  by  Eyssenhardt,  1866. 


66      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

and  Boethius  is  supposed  to  have  imitated  its  structure 
in  his  "De  Consolatione  Philosophise."     The  first  two 
books  are  an  allegory,  and  may  be  supposed  to  have  a 
deeper  meaning  than  appears  on  the  surface.  Mercury 
wishes  to  marry,  and  selects  Wisdom  as  his  bride  ;  but 
she  having  resolved  to  remain,  like  her  sister  Minerva, 
a   virgin,  he  addresses  himself  next  to  Psycha,  the 
soul,  daughter  of  Entelechy  and  the  sun  ;  but  Virtue 
informs  him  that  the  soul  is  already  enchained  by  the 
bonds  of  Cupid.     He   consults  Apollo,  who  recom- 
mends him  to  marry  Philology,  the  daughter  of  Erudi- 
tion.    As  Philology  is  of  terrestrial  origin,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  obtain  the  sanction  of  Jove  to  the  misalliance  ; 
which  being  obtained,  the  Muses  and  the  Graces,  in 
the  second  book,  celebrate  the  union — which  is  duly 
completed  in  the  Milky  Way  in  presence  of  Jupiter. 
The    seven    liberal    arts    treated    of    by    the    seven 
bridesmaids    form    the    subjects    of   the    succeeding 
books,  the  third  treating  of  the  grammatic  art,  the 
fourth   of  the   dialectic,   the    fifth   of  the   rhetorical, 
the    sixth   of   geometry,   the   seventh  of  arithmetic, 
the  eighth  of  astronomy,  the  ninth  of  music.     There 
is  a  great  deal  of  ingenuity  in  the  book,  and  some 
speculative  power.     The  style  is  forced,  fanciful,  and 
turgid.     Capella  died  probably  at  the  beginning  of 
the  sixth  century. 

The  book  by  which  Boethius  is  best  known  is  his 
"  De  Consolatione  Philosophise,"  written  in  the  prison 
to  which  Theodoric  had  sent  him.     He  is  a  pagan 


INNER    WORK  OF  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS.  67 

philosopher,  with  a  tincture  of  Christian  ideas.  Omit- 
ting the  treatises  which  are  doubtful,  his  works,  in 
addition  to  the  "De  Consolatione,"  consist  chiefly  of 
translations  of  Aristotle,  and  commentaries  on  the 
"  Topics  "  of  Cicero.  He  translates  the  "  Prior  and 
Posterior  Analytics,"  the  "Topics,"  and  the  "So- 
phistici  Elenchi."  He  also  writes  an  introduction 
to  categorical  syllogisms,  and  other  logical  treatises. 
Had  the  whole  of  Boethius'  works  been  in  the  hands 
of  the  teachers  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  course  of 
higher  instruction  would  have  been,  or  at  least  might 
have  been,  of  a  very  solid  character.  It  was  only 
through  what  had  survived  of  Boethius  that  Aristotle 
was  known  at  all.     He  was  executed  in  525. 

The  twenty  books  of  Etymologise  by  Isidore  of 
Seville  (died  636)  is,  I  suppose,  the  first  encyclo- 
paedia. The  first  book  treats  of  the  seven  liberal 
arts ;  the  second  is  devoted  to  rhetoric,  the  third 
to  arithmetic.  The  remaining  books  take  a  wide 
and  encyclopaedic  range,  and  embrace  medicine, 
geography,  Biblical  criticism,  Church  history,  laws, 
languages,  a  Latin  lexicon,  a  treatise  on  man,  on 
natural  phenomena,  agriculture,  mineralogy,  etc. 
They  constitute  a  valuable  record  of  the  state 
of  knowledge  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventh 
century. 

Organization  arid  Discipline. — There  were  two 
schools  and  two  classes  of  pupils  in  the  monasteries 


68     MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

— the  inner,  or  claustral  school,  in  which  the  boys 
who  were  devoted  by  their  parents  to  a  monkish  life 
(pblati)  were  taught,  and  the  outer  school,  frequented 
chiefly  by  those  intending  to  fill  the  office  of  parochial 
1  priest,  or  preparing  themselves  for  secular  appoint- 
ments. These  outer  schools  were  also  attended  by 
some  for  education  solely,  without  ulterior  reference 
to  any  specific  ecclesiastical  or  secular  function.  The 
cathedral  schools  were  less  exclusive  in  their  character, 
and  the  Church  funds  were  used  for  their  maintenance. 

In  the  inner  schools  the  oblati  (after  the  time  of 
Charlemagne  kept  apart)  were  maintained,  as  well 
as  educated,  gratuitously  ;  in  the  outer  schools,  pupils 
had  to  pay  for  their  maintenance,  but  not  for  their 
instruction.  At  the  same  time,  the  giving  of  presents 
was  largely  encouraged,  especially  when  the  boys  left. 
These  presents,  often  of  great  value,  went  sometimes 
to  the  funds  of  the  school,  at  other  times  as  tips  into 
the  pockets  of  the  master  (as  till  recently,  I  under- 
stand, at  Eton !). 

For  the  poor  in  the  outer  school,  the  monasteries 
themselves  often  made  provision.  Land  was  also 
frequently  bequeathed  for  this  specific  purpose,  and 
even  alms  asked.  Hence  the  origin  of  the  foundations 
attached  to  cathedrals  and  monasteries,  and  afterwards 
to  universities. 

The  arrangements  of  the  cathedral  (episcopal, 
canonical)  schools  were  similar  to  those  of  the  ex- 
terior monastery  schools,  at  least  after  the  reforms  of 


INNER    WORK  OF  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS.  69 

Chrodegang ;  but,  after  the  tenth  century,  they  were 
not  so  strict.  Where  the  cathedral  foundations  could 
not  maintain  the  scholars — called  scolares  canonici — 
their  parents  or  friends  contributed.  Among  the 
pupils  were  also  to  be  found  the  sons  of  well-to-do 
citizens,  who  paid  for  their  own  maintenance  and 
instruction.  The  children  of  the  very  poor  were  fre- 
quently, but  by  no  means  always,  maintained  and 
educated  free  of  cost,  their  destination  being  the 
parochial  priesthood  or  the  Church  choir.  This  was 
especially  the  case  after  the  third  Lateran  Council 
of  1 1 79.  Money  was  often  left  by  pious  persons  for 
the  education  of  poor  scholars  at  the  cathedral  schools. 
But  it  would  appear  that  such  "poor"  scholars  as 
were  not  on  the  original  foundation  were  often  taught 
separately  from  the  scolares  canonici  and  those  who 
paid.  They  were  of  a  much  lower  social  class.  Even 
these  canonici  had  constantly  to  pay  a  portion  of  the 
cost  of  maintenance  and  education.  In  this  respect 
the  cathedral  schools  were  not  so  liberal  as  the  ex- 
terior monastery  schools,  doubtless  because  they  had 
not  such  large  possessions. 

The  head  of  the  cathedral  school  was  called 
Scholasticus,  or  Capiscolus  {Caput  scholci),  although 
the  designations  magister  scholarnm,  arc/ti-magister, 
and  didascahts  were  also  in  use.  After  the  twelfth 
century,  if  not  earlier,  the  scholasticus  took  pre- 
cedence of  the  other  canons  after  the  dean.  He 
seems  also,  sometimes,  to  have  had  a  certain  super- 


70      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

vision  of  other  Church  and  foundation  schools  in 
the  diocese — a  function  in  most  places  and  in  earlier 
time  discharged  by  the  chancellor,  and  more  rarely 
by  the  archdeacon.  From  the  central  cathedral 
school  these  other  subordinate  schools  obtained  their 
teachers,  and  no  one  could  act  as  teacher  in  any 
of  the  schools  of  the  diocese  (at  least  from  the  tenth 
century  onwards)  without  receiving  from  the  cathedral 
scholasticus  or  the  chancellor  a  facultas^  or  licencia, 
docendi.     Often  he  had  to  pay  a  fee  for  this. 

The  monastery  schools  were  of  the  nature  of 
boarding-schools,  and  held  under  strict  ecclesiastical 
discipline.  Monks  were  set  apart  to  be  with  the  boys 
day  and  night  in  order  to  watch  and  direct  their 
conduct.  This  personal  supervision  was  particularly 
close  in  the  interior  school,  and  in  the  best-organized 
monasteries  almost  every  action  of  the  oblati  was 
under  fixed  regulation.  Thus  was  produced  in  the 
course  of  years  a  class  of  men  entirely  devoted  to  one 
idea,  and  each  like  the  other.  Perfect  uniformity  of 
appearance  and  demeanour  was  the  result. 

The  discipline  in  all  the  schools  was  exceedingly 
severe.  The  slightest  faults  were  punished  with  the 
rod.  Degere  sub  virga  meant  "  to  receive  education." 
The  severity  was  no  doubt  encouraged  by  the  theory 
that  the  devil  was  in  the  hearts  of  boys,  and  could  be 
got  out  only  by  flogging.  In  many  monasteries  all 
the  boys  were  periodically  flogged  as  a  kind  of  general 
atonement  for  sins  past  and  possible.     Even  so  late 


INNER    WORK  OF  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS.  71 

as  the  fourteenth  century  we  find  that  the  ceremony 
of  introducing  a  schoolmaster  to  his  office  (incepting 
in  grammar)  was  presenting  him  with  a  palmer 
(ferule)  and  rod,  and  requiring  him  to  flog  a  boy 
publicly.  "Then  shall  the  Bedell  purvay  for  every 
master  in  Gramer  a  shrewde  boy  whom  the  master 
in  Gramer  shall  bete  openlye  in  the  Scolys  and  the 
master  in  Gramer  shall  give  the  boy  a  Grote  for  hys 
labour  and  another  Grote  to  him  that  provydeth  the 
rode  and  the  palmer/'  etc.* 

This  lofty  conception  of  the  scholastic  function 
still  survives  in  many  quarters.  The  earliest  protest 
against  it,  after  Quintilian,  known  to  me  is  that 
of  the  eminent  Anselm.  "  No  teacher,"  says  Green 
(p.  69),  "has  ever  thrown  a  greater  spirit  of  love 
into  his  toil."  "  *  Force  your  scholars  to  improve  ! '  he 
burst  out  to  a  teacher  who  relied  on  blows  and  com- 
pulsion. '  Did  you  ever  see  a  craftsman  fashion  a 
fair  image  out  of  a  golden  plate  by  blows  alone? 
Does  he  not  now  gently  press  it  and  strike  it  with  his 
tools,  now  with  wise  art,  yet  more  gently,  raise  and 
shape  it  ?  What  do  your  scholars  turn  into  under 
this  ceaseless  beating?'  'They  turn  only  brutal,' 
was  the  reply.  'You  have  bad  luck,'  was  the  keen 
answer,  'in  a  training  that  only  turns  men  into 
beasts'"  (Green,  i.  137). 

It  is necessary  to  exaggerate  the  work  done  in 

education  from  the  third  to  the  twelfth  century,  as 

*  Quoted  by  Mullinger,  i.  345. 


72      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES 

Newman  does,  if  we  are  to  admire  the  zeal  and 
learning  of  the  Church.  Except  at  certain  happy 
periods  and  certain  centres,  the  instruction  was  inade- 
quate, crude,  bald,  and  unenlightened.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  man  who,  looking  back  on  those  times, 
would  blame  the  Church,  has  a  churlish  and  narrow 
soul.  I  doubt  if  more  could  have  been  accomplished. 
Great  sacrifices  were  made  by  those  who,  from  genera- 
tion to  generation,  led  the  education  of  the  time. 
The  zeal  displayed  for  the  transcribing  of  manu- 
scripts, and  for  providing  copies  for  transcription 
from  distant  parts,  is  in  truth  sometimes  very 
touching.  The  scriptorium,  where  a  part  of  every 
day  was  spent  in  transcribing,  was  as  essential  a 
part  of  the  monastery  buildings  as  the  refectory  or 
the  chapel.  "  In  every  monastery,"  says  Monta- 
lembert  (vi.  136),  "there  was  established  first  a 
library,  then  great  studios,  wrhere,  to  increase  the 
number  of  books,  skilful  caligraphers  transcribed 
manuscripts  ;  and,  finally,  schools  open  to  all  those 
who  had  need  of  or  desire  for  instruction."  Mabillon 
(ii.  38)  describes  the  Abbey  of  Lerins  u  as  an  academy 
of  virtue  and  learning  open  to  all  the  world."  The 
monastic  life  was,  in  truth,  not  merely  a  religious 
life,  but  in  numerous  cases  an  academic  life,  and 
has  its  modern  counterpart  in  the  Colleges  of  Oxford 
and  Cambridge. 

Even  women  shared  in  such  learning  as  existed. 
Female    learning    was    carried     into     Germany    by 


INNER    WORK  OF  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS.  73 

English  ladies,  who  were  said  to  be  well  versed  in  all 
the  liberal  arts.*  We  find  the  names  of  Chunihilt 
with  her  daughter  Berhtgit,  and  Tekla  mentioned 
with  honour  as  founders  of  convents,  which  were 
places  of  education  for  girls  as  well  as  of  religious 
retirement.  The  pupils  of  Lioba  who  taught  at 
Bischofsheim  were  largely  in  request  as  teachers 
elsewhere,  f  A  "  religious  ■■  convent  life  may  be  almost 
said  to  have  been  also,  when  the  nuns  chose  to  make 
it  so,  an  academic  life.  One  of  the  most  interesting 
literary  names  in  the  tenth  century  was  that  of 
Hroswilda  (Hrosvita),  who,  in  the  German  convent 
of  Gandersheim,  wrote  dramas,  recently  published, 
and  said  to  be  of  considerable  merit. 

Pure  literature,  as  we  understand  it,  was  regarded 
as  the  production  of  the  unconsecratcd  mind,  was 
a  snare,  and  was  practically  (save  in  a  few  cases) 
unknown.  What  we  call  humanism  and  the  humani- 
ties could  not  live  side  by  side  with  that  which  was 
alone  necessary  to  salvation.  As  to  science :  even 
if  the  time  had  been  otherwise  ripe,  science  was 
impossible,  because  it  means  free  investigation  ;  phi- 
losophy was  impossible,  because  it  means  unfettered 
thought  The  day  was  approaching  when  the  specu- 
lative mind,  in  its  desire  to  rationalize  theology,  was 
to  stir  metaphysical  questions,  and,  through  the  im- 
pulse to  freedom  thus  given  to  the  human  mind,  to 

#  Mab.  Act.  S.  S.,  iii.  2.  227,  quoted  by  Specht. 
f  Specht,  p.  II,  with  relative  authorities. 


74      MEDIMVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

open  it  to  the  beauties  of  literature  and  so  prepare 
the  way  for  science.  It  is  to  Berengar,  Archdeacon 
of  Tours  in  the  first  half  of  the  eleventh  century,  and 
the  learned  head  of  the  Carolingian  school  there,  that 
the  stirring  of  these  questions  was  largely  due.  He 
(like  Scotus  Erigena)  maintained  the  rights  of  reason 
against  the  authority  of  the  Fathers,  and  held  what 
are  now  called  evangelical  and  Protestant  views  of 
the  Eucharist. 


LECTURE  V. 

TENTH  AND   ELEVENTH   CENTURIES. 

ALCUIN  had  left  behind  him  at  the  palace  of  Charles 
two  faithful  pupils ;  but  two  years  after  his  withdrawal 
to  Tours,  Clement  of  Ireland,  to  whom  the  legend 
I  quoted  in  Lecture  III.  referred,  was  installed  as 
chief.  The  freer  and  more  speculative  theology  of 
the  Irish  Church  was  represented  by  him.  The 
appointment  of  John  Scotus  Erigena  to  the  Palace 
School  under  Charles  the  Bald  was  a  further  step  in 
the  same  liberal  direction,  and  may  be  said  even 
to  mark  an  epoch  in  the  intellectual  history  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  Under  the  influence  of  Martianus 
Capella,  Plato,  the  Pseudo-Dionysius,  and  the  Greek 
Fathers,  John  started  questions  which  alarmed  Western 
orthodoxy,  and  which  led  gradually  to  the  more  formal 
teaching  of  Christianity  as  a  dogmatic  system  resting 
on  the  Fathers  and  the  decrees  of  councils.  This 
teaching,  in  the  course  of  the  eleventh  century,  became 
centred  in  Paris,  partly,  doubtless,  owing  to  the  trans- 
ference of  the  royal  seat  of  the  Capets  to  that  city. 
It  was  represented  in  1109  by  William  of  Champeaux, 


76      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

the  greatest  orthodox  teacher  of  theology  who  had  yet 
appeared,  and  whom  we  shall  soon  meet  again. 

The  Carolingian  revival  had  certainly  accom- 
plished a  good  deal.  It  left  its  mark.  But,  after  all,  the 
permanent  results  were  not  great.  Whether  we  look 
at  the  three  centuries  that  preceded  it,  or  the  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  that  followed  it,  we  do  not 
find  much  that  can  be  called  learning,  we  find  nothing 
that  can  be  called  literature.  Spite  of  the  labours  of 
Alcuin  and  of  Theodulf,  the  decrees  of  episcopal 
councils  and  edicts  of  kings,  we  are  told  by  Lupus 
Servatus  (Loup  de  Ferrieres) — the  favourite  of  Louis 
le  Debonnaire  and  Charles  the  Bald — that  the  study 
of  letters  was  in  his  time  almost  null.*  Lupus  died  in 
870.  This  failure  was  doubtless  largely  due  to  the 
Norman  and  Saracen  incursions,  the  former  beginning 
within  about  thirty  years  of  Charlemagne's  death.  In 
the  same  way  the  return  of  the  Danes  and  other  causes 
operated  against  learning  in  England.  In  Hallam's 
opinion,  from  the  sixth  to  the  middle  of  the  eleventh 
century  only  two  names  are  worthy  of  mention,  viz. 
Scotus  Erigena  and  Pope  Sylvester  II.  (Gerbert,  who 
died  1003).  He  rightly  regards  Alcuin  as  a  man  of 
moderate  endowments.  I  think  we  ought  to  add  to 
Hallam's  brief  list  the  names  of  Bede  the  Venerable, 
who  died  in  735,  and  Rabanus  Maurus  (Alcuin's  pupil), 
whom  I  am  disposed  to  regard  as  a  man  of  consider- 
able original  genius  as  well  as  of  great  learning. 

*  Compayre,  "  Hist,  da  Ped.,"  p.  55. 


TENTH  AND  ELEVENTH  CENTURIES.  77 

But  while  it  is  true  that  there  were  only  two  or 
three  great  literary  names  during  the  period  men- 
tioned, it  is  not  a  correct  inference  from  this  that  there 
was  absolutely  no  learning.  Not  to  speak  of  the 
Irish  monks  and  the  other  scholars  whom  we  have 
had  to  name,  such  as  Theodulf  and  Eginhard,  and 
the  patient  and  secluded  learning  of  the  greater 
monasteries  and  abbeys,  such  as  St.  Riquier,  St. 
Galle,  Fulda,  and  the  famous  schools  of  Orleans  and 
Rheims  and,  later,  of  Paris,  we  have  to  remember 
that  the  Benedictines  everywhere  were  teachers  and 
to  a  certain  extent  students.  While  steadily  accumu- 
lating materials  and  forming  libraries,  they  maintained, 
with  varying  fortunes,  the  tradition  of  knowledge. 

After  all,  the  early  half  of  the  ninth  century  per- 
haps did  more  for  education,  as  that  word  was  then 
understood,  in  proportion  to  the  means  and  opportu- 
nities available,  than  any  period  since. 

Still,  we  cannot  shut  our  eyes  to  the  rapid  falling 
away,  and  we  may  say,  without  exaggeration,  that 
the  decline  continued  till,  towards  the  latter  half  of 
the  eleventh  century,  literature  and  learning  could 
scarcely  be  held  to  exist,  in  any  true  sense  of 
these  words.  There  is  ample  evidence  that  this  was 
so.  Adalberic,  Bishop  of  Laon,  says  in  the  earlier 
part  of  the  eleventh  century  that  u  there  was  more 
than  one  bishop  who  was  unable  to  tell  the  letters  of 
the  alphabet  on  his  fingers  "  (Compayrd).  And  even 
if  we  suppose  this  to  refer  to  what  might  be  called 


78      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

M  military  M  bishops,  the  sentence  of  ignorance  is  none 
the  less  conclusive,  and  shows  how  very  restricted 
was  the  range  of  influence  of  the  schools  that  still 
flourished  at  York,  Pavia,  Orleans,  Paris,  and  Rheims. 
The  noble  example  of  Charlemagne  and  Alfred  had 
not  called  forth  imitators,  if  we  except  Charles's 
immediate  descendants.  King,  baron,  and  knight 
had  a  contempt  for  those  who  professed  even  an 
elementary  knowledge  of  letters.  In  the  monasteries 
themselves  the  thread  of  learned  tradition  had  be- 
come very  thin — indeed  scarcely  discernible,  save  at 
the  few  celebrated  centres  which  I  have  already 
named. 

Eminent  names  there  certainly  were,  even  after  the 
death  of  Theodulf  and  Eginhard — such  as  Rabanus 
Maurus,  the  pupil  of  Alcuin ;  Lupus  Servatus  of 
Ferrieres,  to  whom  I  have  already  referred  ;  Otho, 
called  to  be  Archbishop  of  Cologne  in  953  ;  and 
Othlonus,  cf  the  monastery  of  St.  Emmeran  (Ratis- 
bon).  The  last  named  refers  to  his  early  studies  in 
Plato  and  Aristotle,  as  well  as  in  Virgil,  Lucan,  and 
Cicero.  But  a  few  scholarly  bishops  and  abbots  will 
not  save  the  intellectual  reputation  of  centuries.  Even 
Cardinal  Newman  himself  quotes,  "  To  pass  from 
grammar  to  rhetoric,  and  then  in  course  to  the  other 
liberal  sciences,"  says  Lupus,  speaking  of  France,  "is 
fabula  tantum"  Again,  "  It  has  ever  been  the  custom 
in  Italy,"  says  Glaber  Radulphus,  writing  of  the  year 
1000,   "  to    neglect    all    arts   but    grammar."     True, 


TENTH  AND  ELEVENTH  CENTURIES.  79 

Newman  reminds  us  that  grammar  meant  also  litera- 
ture ;  but  this  was  not  always,  or  even  generally,  the 
case.    As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  few  who  affected  classi- 
cal studies  found  themselves  at  war  with  the  spirit 
of  the  age  and  the  teaching  of  the  Catholic  Church- 
It  is  related,  for  example,  that  a  priest  on  his  death- 
bed saw  in  a  vision  Archbishop  Bruno  brought  before 
the  judgment-seat  of  God  to  answer  for  his  vain  and 
useless    occupation   with   the   writings   of   heathens. 
He  had  to  thank  St.  Paul  for  intervening  and  securing 
him  a  place  in  heaven  ;  but  under  the  saints.*    Abbot 
Odo  of  Cluny  (922-942)  compared  Virgil  to  a  beauti- 
ful vessel  full  of  vipers,  and  Majolus,  the  fourth  abbot, 
forbade  him  to  be  read  in  the  cloister  school  (964- 
994).     Again,  it  is  related,  in  commendation  of  the 
liberal  mind  of  Sigulf,  one  of  Alcuin's  pupils,  that  he 
permitted  Virgil  to  be  read  at  Ferrieres.t     Even  the 
humane  Anselm  in  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century 
has  to  advise  the  study  of  Virgil  and  other  profane 
authors.  % 

But  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  during  all  this 
period  the  hearts  and  intellects  of  men  were  not  busy. 
Theological  questions  engaged  the  leaders  of  the 
Church,  great  political  and  social  movements  pre- 
occupied men's  minds.  The  Normans  were  invading 
Europe,  the  Danes  were  descending  on  England, 
the  Saracens  were  threatening  all  Christendom,  and 

*  Thietmari  Chronic,  quoted  by  Specht. 
t  Crevjer5i.  p.  63,  edit.  1761.  \  I.  Ep.,  55  (Mabillon). 

8 


80      MEDIALVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

society  was  fighting  for  its  life.  Notwithstanding 
the  savage  struggle,  Europe  was  being  slowly  pene- 
trated by  Christian  ideas.  The  self-sacrifice  of  the 
religious  orders  kept  steadily  before  men's  minds 
the  fact  that  the  spirit  lives  by  the  spirit,  and  that  the 
things  of  earth  are  not  to  be  compared  with  the  things 
that  are  eternal ;  and  many  men  of  noble  birth  and 
great  possessions,  to  whom  a  conspicuous  secular 
career  was  open,  sought  refuge  in  the  monkish  cowl, 
and  a  life  in  community. 

It  is  to  this  slow  dissemination  of  Christian  ideas 
that  Guizot  refers  in  his  fifth  lecture  on  the  "  History 
of  Civilization,"  and,  taking  us  quite  to  the  last  years 
of  the  period  of  which  I  am  speaking,  illustrates  his 
argument  by  the  autobiography  of  Guibert  de  Nogent. 
He  says — 

"  Guibert  de  Nogent  gives  an  account  in  this  work 
both  of  the  public  events  at  which  he  was  present,  and 
of  the  personal  events  which  passed  within  his  own 
family.  He  was  born  in  1053,  in  a  castle  of  Beauvaisis. 
Let  us  see  how  he  speaks  of  his  mother,  and  of  his 
relations  with  her.  Call  to  mind  the  narrative,  or 
rather  the  language  (for  narrative  is  entirely  wanting), 
of  writers  contemporaneous  with  Charlemagne,  Louis 
le  Debonnaire,  and  Charles  le  Chauve,  on  a  similar 
matter,  and  say  if  this  is  the  same  condition  of 
relations  and  of  souls.  '  I  have  said,  God  of  mercy 
and  holiness,  that  I  would  return  thanks  to  Thee  for 
Thy  goodness.      First,  I  especially  return  thanks  to 


TENTH  AND  ELEVENTH  CENTURIES.  %i 

Thee  for  having  given  me  a  chaste  and  modest 
mother,  and  one  filled  with  fear  of  Thee.  With 
regard  to  her  beauty,  I  should  praise  it  in  a  worldly 
and  extravagant  manner,  did  I  place  it  anywhere  but 
in  a  face  armed  with,  a  severe  chastity.  .  .  .  The 
virtuous  expression  of  my  mother,  her  rare  speech, 
her  always  tranquil  countenance,  were  not  made  to 
encourage  the  levity  of  those  who  beheld  her  .  .  .• 
and  what  is  very  rarely,  or  scarcely  ever  seen  in 
women  of  a  high  rank,  she  was  as  jealous  of  pre- 
serving pure  the  gifts  of  God,  as  she  was  reserved  in 
blaming  women  who  abused  them  ;  and  when  it 
happened  that  a  woman,  whether  within  or  without 
her  house,  became  the  object  of  a  censure  of  this  kind, 
she  abstained  from  taking  part  in  it ;  she  was  afflicted 
at  hearing  it,  just  as  if  the  censure  had  fallen  on  her- 
self. ...  It  was  far  less  from  experience  than  from  a 
kind  of  awe  with  which  she  was  inspired  from  above, 
that  she  was  accustomed  to  detest  sin  ;  and,  as  she 
often  said  to  me,  she  had  so  penetrated  her  soul  with 
the  fear  of  sudden  death,  that,  arrived  at  a  more 
advanced  age,  she  bitterly  regretted  no  longer  ex- 
periencing in  her  aged  heart  those  same  stings  of 
pious  terror  which  she  had  felt  in  her  age  of  simplicity 
and  ignorance ! 

"'The  eighth  month  of  my  birth  had  scarcely 
elapsed,  when  my  father  in  the  flesh  died  ;  .  .  .  although 
my  mother  was  still  fair  and  of  fresh  age,  she  resolved 
to  remain  a  widow,  and  how  great  was  the  firmness 


82      MEDIMVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

which  she  used  to  accomplish  this  vow !  How  great 
were  the  examples  of  modesty  which  she  gave !  .  .  . 
Living  in  great  fear  of  the  Lord,  and  with  an  equal 
love  for  her  neighbours,  especially  those  who  were 
poor,  she  managed  us  prudently,  us  and  our  property. 
. .  .  Her  mouth  was  so  accustomed  to  continually  repeat 
the  name  of  her  dead  husband,  that  it  seemed  as  if 
her  soul  had  never  any  other  thought ;  for,  whether 
in  praying  or  distributing  alms,  even  in  the  most 
ordinary  acts  of  life,  she  continually  pronounced  the 
name  of  that  man,  which  showed  that  her  mind  was 
always  preoccupied  with  him.  In  fact,  when  the 
heart  is  absorbed  in  a  feeling  of  love,  the  tongue  forms 
itself  in  a  manner  to  speak,  as  it  were  unconsciously, 
of  him  who  is  its  object. 

" '  My  mother  brought  me  up  with  the  most  tender 
care.  .  .  .  Scarcely  had  I  learned  the  first  elements 
of  letters,  when,  eager  to  have  me  instructed,  she 
confided  me  to  a  master  of  grammar.  .  .  .  There  was7| 
shortly  before  this  epoch,  and  even  at  this  time,  so 
great  a  scarcity  of  masters  of  grammar,  that,  so  to 
speak,  scarce  one  was  to  be  seen  in  the  country,  and, 
hardly  could  they  be  found  in  the  great  towns.  .  .  ^j 
He  to  whom  my  mother  resolved  to  confide  me  had 
learned  grammar  in  a  rather  advanced  age,  and  was 
so  much  the  less  familiar  with  this  science,  as  he  had 
devoted  himself  to  it  at  a  later  period  ;  but  what  he 
wanted  in  knowledge,  he  made  up  for  in  virtue.  .  .  . 
From  the  time  I  was  placed  under  his  care,  he  formed 


TENTH  AND  ELEVENTH  CENTURIES.  83 

in  me  such  a  purity,  he  so  thoroughly  eradicated  from 
me  all  the  vices  which  generally  accompany  youth, 
that  he  preserved  me  from  the  most  frequent  dangers. 
He  always  allowed  me  to  go  nowhere  except  in  his 
company,  to  sleep  nowhere  but  in  my  mothers  house, 
to  receive  a  present  from  no  one  without  her  per- 
mission. He  required  me  Jtp  do  everything  with 
moderation,  precision,  attention,  and  exertion.  .  .  . 
While  most  children  of  my  age  ran  here  and  there, 
according  to  their  pleasure,  and  were  allowed  from 
time  to  time  the  enjoyment  of  the  liberty  which 
belongs  to  them,  I,  held  in  continual  restraint,  muffled 
up  like  a  clerk,  looked  upon  the  band  of  players  as  if 
I  had  been  a  being  above  them. 

" '  Every  one,  seeing  how  my  master  excited  me 
to  work,  hoped  at  first  that  such  great  application 
would  sharpen  my  wits;  but  this  hope  soon  diminished, 
for  my  master,  altogether  unskilful  at  reciting  verses, 
or  composing  them  according  to  rule,  almost  every" 

iday  loaded  me  with  a  shower  of  curls  and  blows,  j 
to  force  me  to  know  what  he  himself  was  unable 
to  teach  me.  .  .  .  Still  he  showed  me  so  much  friend- 
ship, he  occupied  himself  concerning  me  with  so  much 
solicitude,  he  watched  so  assiduously  over  my  safety, 
that,  far  from  experiencing  the  fear  generally  felt 
at  that  age,  I  forgot  all  his  severity,  and  obeyed 
with  an  inexpressible  feeling  of  love.  .  .  .  One 
day,  when  I  had  been  struck,  having  neglected  my 
work  for  some  hours  in  the  evening,  I  went  and  sat 


84     MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

myself  at  my  mother's  knee,  severely  bruised,  and 
certainly  more  so  than  I  had  deserved.  My  mother 
having,  according  to  her  custom,  asked  if  I  had  been 
beaten  that  day,  I,  in  order  to  avoid  accusing  my 
master,  assured  her  that  I  had  not.  But  she,  pulling 
aside,  whether  I  would  or  no,  the  garment  they  call 
a  shirt,  saw  my  little  arms  all  black,  and  the  skin 
of  my  shoulders  all  raised  up  and  swollen  by  the 
blow  of  the  rod  which  I  had  received.  At  this  sight, 
complaining  that  they  treated  me  with  too  much 
cruelty  at  so  tender  an  age,  all  troubled  and  beside 
herself,  her  eyes  full  of  tears,  she  cried,  "  I  will  no 
longer  have  thee  become  a  priest,  nor,  in  order  to 
learn  letters,  that  thou  thus  endure  such  treatment." 
But  I,  at  these  words,  regarding  her  with  all  the 
rage  of  which  I  was  capable,  said  to  her  :  "  I  would 
rather  die  than  cease  learning  letters,  and  wishing 
to  be  a  priest." ' 

"  Who  can  read  this  account  without  being  struck 
with  the  prodigious  development  which,  in  two  cen- 
turies, has  been  taken  by  the  domestic  sentiments,  the 
importance  attached  to  children,  to  their  education, 
to  all  the  ties  of  family?  You  might  search  through 
all  the  writers  of  the  preceding  centuries,  and  never 
find  anything  resembling  it.  We  cannot,  I  repeat, 
give  an  exact  account  of  the  manner  in  which  this 
revolution  was  accomplished  ;  we  do  not  follow  it 
in  its  degrees  ;  but  it  is  incontestable." 

We  see,  in  a  record  like  that  just  quoted  from 


TENTH  AND  ELEVENTH  CENTURIES.  85 

Guizot,  evidence  that  the  efforts  of  the  Christian 
Church  to  moralize  the  minds  of  the  people,  had, 
spite  of  the  disturbed  social  conditions,  told  power- 
fully on  personal  and  social  relations.  But,  in  this  the 
middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  I  see  no  evidence  that 
the  education  (in  the  usual  sense  of  that  term) 
either  of  people  or  clergy  had  made  any  progress, 
even  in  the  quiet  of  the  monasteries,  beyond  that 
attained  in  the  generation  that  immediately  followed 
Charlemagne  and  Alcuin.  Indeed,  how  could  it  ? 
The  spirit  of  progress  can  exist  only  where  there 
is  a  belief  in  new  developments  of  thought,,  new 
teachings  of  science.  The  stringent  dogmatism  of  the 
Church  made  this  impossible.  I  do  not  think  the 
authorities  had,  at  that  time,  much  fear  of  heresy  in 
connection  with  mental  activity.  It  was  merely  that 
the  intellectual  asceticism  of  mediaeval  Christianity 
turned  instinctively  aside  from  all  speculation  and 
investigation  as  superfluous,  if  not  hurtful,  to  the  true 
spiritual  life — as  a  life  of  faith,  obedience,  and  practice. 
In  these  days  (strangely  enough !)  a  similar  attitude 
is  assumed  by  the  devotees  of  physical  science  ;  and 
the  parallel  is  not  a  forced  one.  Philosophy  and 
letters  are  simply,  nay  barely,  tolerated  in  education  ; 
language  is  admitted,  but  only  to  a  precarious  place 
on  utilitarian  grounds  alone. 

We  conclude,  then,  that  there  was  a  moral  advance 
rather  than  an  intellectual  one  during  the  two  centuries 
after  the  death  of  Charlemagne.     At  the  same  time, 


86      MEDIMVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

through  the  impulse  given  by  Charles,  the  mediaeval 
curriculum  of  instruction  was  more  thoroughly  studied 
in  a  few  favoured  spots  than  it  had  been  anywhere 
for  centuries  except  in  Ireland,  and  the  England  of 
Theodore  and  Baeda.  Especially  was  this  the  case 
at  Paris,  Orleans,  and  Rheims.  It  was  at  the-  latter 
town  that  the  celebrated  Gerbert,  of  whom  I  have 
more  than  once  spoken,  taught,  and  we  have  a  record 
of  his  course  of  instruction  in  the  "  Historiarum 
Ouatuor  Libri "  of  Richerus  (bk.  iii.),  to  which  I  have 
referred  in  the  fourth  lecture. 

Among  other  causes  which  led  to  the  decline 
of  learning,  was,  without  doubt,  the  expectation  that 
the  year  iooo  would  see  the  end  of  all  things.  Under 
the  influence  of  this  expectation,  churches  and  houses 
were  allowed  to  go  to  ruin,  and  even  the  fields  were 
left  untilled.  Why  should  men  concern  themselves 
with  learning  when  the  dies  ires  was  so  close  at 
hand  ? 

Not  only  were  those  centuries  engaged  in  taking 
to  heart  the  practical  teachings  of  Christianity,  but 
in  other  directions  than  that  of  learning  there  was 
great  activity.  In  the  century  that  saw  the  death 
of  Charlemagne,  there  arose  out  of  feudalism  an 
educational  force  far  more  potent  than  the  monastic 
schools.  This  was  a  secular  order,  destined  to  work 
great  changes  in  the  political  as  in  the  moral  world— 
the  order  of  chivalry.     The  element  of  personality 


TENTH  AND  ELEVENTH  CENTURIES.  87 

and  individual  merit  was  so  all-powerful  in  this  order, 
that,  in  this  respect,  it  may  be  said  to  have  contained 
the  germs  of  reformation  ideas.  Taking  its  rise  in 
the  tenth  century,  it  grew  steadily  in  importance,  and 
effloresced  in  the  eleventh,  twelfth,  and  thirteenth. 
These  last  were  also  the  centuries  of  intellectual 
revival  and  the  beginning  of  the  universities,  and  it  is 
interesting  to  note  that  alongside  of  this  intellectual 
movement  we  have  the  assertion  of  moral  freedom 
and  personal  moral  responsibility  in  the  chivalric 
order.  Its  creed  was  love  of  honour,  personal 
courage,  alone  and  against  odds,  truthfulness,  an 
abstract  love  of  justice,  respect  for  woman,  and 
courtesy.  The  Teutonic  spirit  thus  illustrating  itself 
in  Christianity  was  a  civilizing  and  spiritualizing 
agency  of  no  mean  character.  This  the  Church  soon 
saw,  and  it  quickly  brought  chivalry  within  its  own 
organization  by  consecrating  with  solemn  ceremonies 
the  sword  of  the  knight  to  the  defence  of  the  faith. 
As  it  was  an  order  of  personal  nobility  as  distinguished 
from  the  nobility  attached  to  hereditary  possessions, 
a  career  was  thus  opened  for  ardent  and  ambitious 
youth.  At  the  great  castles  there  arose,  in  continua- 
tion of  the  ancient  custom  of  the  Germani,  what 
might  be  called  baronial  schools  of  gymnastic,  of 
military  training,  courtesy,  and  honour.  Ere  long 
singing  and  playing  on  stringed  instruments  were 
also  introduced,  and  even  the  art  of  versification  was 
cultivated. 


88     MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

Let  us  now  turn  for  a  moment  from  the  West  to 
the  East.  During  the  centuries  of  which  we  have 
been  speaking  (ninth,  tenth,  and  eleventh),  when 
literature,  philosophy,  and  learning  languished  in 
Europe,  the  torch  burned  brightly  among  the  Arabs 
in  the  east  and  south.  Under  the  inspiration  of  the 
religion  of  Mohammed,  the  children  of  the  desert 
carried  the  Koran  and  the  sword  to  the  Atlantic  and 
the  Indian  Oceans.  No  sooner  did  their  victorious 
armies  establish  new  states,  than  the  spiritual  force 
which  the  new  faith  had  nursed  turned  in  fresh 
directions :  jurisprudence,  philosophy,  science,  and 
art  rose  and  flourished  under  the  liberal  sway  of 
the  Mohammedan  princes.  Every  mosque  had  its 
school.  Numerous  academies  and  universities  were 
instituted,  while  great  libraries  were  collected  at 
Bagdad,  Alexandria,  Cairo,  Cordova,  and  elsewhere. 
The  survivals  of  ancient  Greek  learning  in  the 
Eastern  schools  seem  to  have  powerfully  attracted 
the  conquerors,  and  of  Greek  literature  and  art  they 
soon  became  ardent  students.  Translators  were 
officially  employed.  Long  before  Aristotle  was 
expounded  in  support  of  Christian  dogma,  he  had 
been  turned  to  a  similar  use  in  connection  with  the 
Mohammedan  faith.  The  great  names  of  Avicenna 
and  Averrhoes  are  only  the  most  prominent  among 
a  crowd  of  intellectual  men  who,  in  the  various  fields 
of  philosophy,  rhetoric,  poetry,  mathematics,  and 
medicine,    adorned    the    Mohammedan    courts.       It 


TENTH  AND  ELEVENTH  CENTURIES.  89 

would  seem  that  it  was  the  translation  of  Aristotle 
and  Euclid  into  Arabic  that  formed  the  starting-point 
of  this  new  literary  activity  in  every  department  of 
thought  save  poetry,  which  was  native,  and  juris- 
prudence, which  was  largely  based  on  the  Koran. 
Christian  youths  and  Christian  teachers  were  made 
welcome  at  the  great  schools  and  libraries  of  Spain. 
Africa,  and  the  East.  George  Backtischwah  (Bocht 
Jesu,  754),  a  Nestorian  Greek  Christian,  founded  the 
medical  science  of  the  Saracens.*  Even  if  it  be 
untrue  that  Gerbert  acquired  his  wide  learning  at  the 
Saracen  schools  of  Spain,f  the  universal  acceptance 
of  the  story,  till  recently,  is  itself  suggestive,  and  is 
part  of  the  history  of  education.  Legends  are  often 
as  instructive  and  real  as  facts. 

"  Bagdad,"  says  Sismondi,  "  was  the  capital  of 
letters  as  well  as  of  the  caliphs  ;  but  Bassorah  and 
Cufa  almost  equalled  that  city  in  reputation,  and  in 
the  number  of  valuable  treatises  and  celebrated  poems 
which  they  produced.  Balkh,  Ispahan,  and  Samarcand 
were  equally  the  homes  of  science.  The  same 
enthusiasm  had  been  carried  by  the  Arabs  beyond 
the  frontiers  of  Asia.  Benjamin  Tudela,  a  Jew, 
relates  in  his  '  Itinerary '  that  he  found  in  Alexandria 
more  than  twenty  schools  for  the  propagation  of 
philosophy.  Cairo  also  contained  a  great  number 
of  colleges  ;  and  that  of  Betzuaila,  in  the  suburbs  of 

*  Sismondi,  i.  2. 

t  Denied  by  Olleris  in  his  "  Vie  de  Gerbert." 


90     MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

that  capital,  was  so  substantially  built,  that  during 
a  rebellion  it  served  as  a  citadel  for  the  army.  In 
the  towns  of  Fez  and  Morocco,  likewise,  the  most 
magnificent  buildings  were  appropriated  to  the 
purposes  of  instruction,  and  these  establishments  were 
governed  by  the  wisest  and  most  beneficent  regu- 
lations. But  Spain  was,  more  especially,  the  seat  of 
Arabian  learning.  It  was  there  that  it  shone  with 
superior  brightness  and  made  its  most  rapid  progress 
Cordova,  Grenada,  and  Seville  rivalled  one  another  in 
the  magnificence  of  their  schools,  their  colleges,  their 
academies,  and  their  libraries.,,  * 

*  Cramer,  in  his  "  Gesch.  d.  Erz.  in  d.  Nied.,"  p.  202,  says  that  the 
annual  income  of  the  Cairo  university  was  250,000  ducats,  and  that 
the  caliphs  frequently  attended  the  lectures  and  disputations.  Contrast 
all  this  with  the  Philistine  notions  of  a  British  House  of  Commons. 


LECTURE  VI. 

RISE   OF   UNIVERSITIES   (A.D.    IIOO). 

When  we  speak  of  Europe  recovering  in  the  twelfth 
century  from  a  long  intellectual  sleep,  our  past 
lectures  show  that  this  expression  is  to  be  used  with 
a  full  recognition  of  the  work  done  by  the  Church, 
and  not  in  the  absolute  sense  in  which  some 
historians,  including  even  Hallam,  use  it.  After  the 
Council  of  Carthage,  in  which  classical  literature 
was  almost  of  necessity  proscribed,  the  Church  was 
engaged  in  reorganizing  Europe  on  a  spiritual  basis  ; 
and,  in  the  midst  of  great  difficulties,  the  work  of 
preparing  the  clergy  for  their  duties  and  training  the 
people  in  Christian  doctrine  and  practice  taxed  all  its 
energies. 

And  yet,  it  is  true  that  it  was  a  sleep  out  of 
which  Europe  arose.  After  the  rough  call  of  John 
Scotus  Erigena  it  turned  on  its  other  side.  The  (so- 
called)  heresies  of  Gotteschalk  and  Berengar  made 
it  open  its  eyes  ;  but  it  was  not  till  Roscelin  and 
Anselm,  boldly  following  in  the  track  of  Scotus — 
a  track   by   that   time   almost   obliterated — asserted 


92      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

the  claims  of  reason  and  the  essential  unity  of  religion 
and  philosophy,  that  the  higher  intellect  of  Europe 
was  fairly  roused  to  activity. 

Up  to  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century  the 
instruction  was,  speaking  generally,  and  allowing 
for  transitory  periods  of  revival,  and  for  a  few 
exceptional  schools,  a  shrunken  survival  of  the  old 
trivium  et  quadrivium.  The  lessons,  when  not 
dictated  and  learnt  by  heart  from  notes,  were  got  up 
from  bald  epitomes.  All  that  was  taught,  moreover, 
was  taught  solely  with  a  view  to  "pious  uses." 
Criticism  did  not  exist ;  the  free  spirit  of  speculation 
could  not,  of  course,  exist.  The  rules  of  the  orders 
inevitably  cribbed  and  confined  the  minds  of  the 
learners,  old  and  young.  The  independent  activity 
of  the  human  mind,  if  it  could  be  called  independent, 
showed  itself  only  in  chronicles,  histories,  acta  sane- 
toruthy  and  so  forth.  This  was,  doubtless,  a  necessary 
stage  in  the  historical  development  of  Europe,  and  it 
is  absurd  to  talk  of  these  ages  as  "dark  ages,"  by 
way  of  imputing  blame  or  remissness  to  the  Catholic 
Church.  All  that  could  be  done  was  done  by  the 
Catholic  organizations,  and  by  no  other  agency. 
The  Catholic  Church  did  not  prohibit  learning  if  it 
subserved  the  faith.  Opinion  was  watched  certainly, 
but  to  look  with  superfluous  alarm  on  possible 
developments  of  anti-theological  speculation  did  not 
occur  to  the  men  of  that  time,  and  this  is  con- 
spicuously shown   in  the   attitude  which   the  popes 


RISE   OF  UNIVERSITIES.  93 

took  to  universities  when  they  began  to  arise  (1100- 
II 50).  When  heresies  did  show  themselves,  they 
were,  at  least  at  first,  met  by  laboured  argument,  and 
the  suppression  of  them  by  councils  was,  in  truth, 
the  last  act  in  a  series  of  able  disputations — the 
judicial  summing  up  and  sentence,  so  to  speak.* 
In  brief,  the  Christian  schools  were  doing  their 
proper  work  for  Europe.  They  did  not  promote 
learning  in  any  true  sense ;  but  they  conserved 
learning,  and,  what  was  of  more  importance,  they 
were  leavening  the  life  of  the  people. 

The  preceding  lectures  are,  I  believe,  quite  fair 
and  accurate,  though  necessarily  brief,  surveys  of 
mediaeval  educational  work  down  to  the  eleventh 
century.  Cardinal  Newman,  with  his  subjective  and 
idealistic  tendencies,  sees  facts  through  a  brilliant 
halo  when  he  would  have  us  believe  that  the  popes 
and  bishops  were  continually  consumed  with  a 
desire  to  promote  learning.  Numerous  decrees  of 
councils  show  that  they  were  most  anxious  to 
improve  the  education  of  the  clergy,  but  this  only 
in  so  far  as  the  studies  of  the  schools  could  sub- 
serve the  faith — a  restriction  fatal  to  the  true  life 
of  mind  and,  therefore,  to  progress.  No  learning 
which  stimulated    the  human    mind  to  independent 

*  I  refer  to  learned  and  speculative  heresy.  The  suppression  of 
heresies  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  was  the  suppression, 
quite  as  much,  of  resistance  to  the  supreme  papal  jurisdiction  simply  as 
such.     For  the  heresies  of  this  period,  see  Mil  man. 


94      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

activity  could  possibly  be  regarded  with  favour  by  the 
existing  powers.  Scotus  Erigena  was  a  "  suspect ; " 
and  all  know  how,  long  after,  Abelard  was  perse- 
cuted. Anselin  (born  1034)  might  speculate  safely 
because  he,  like  all  other  sound  Churchmen,  started 
from  unquestioning  belief.  His  object  was  to 
interpret  authority.  Credo  tit  intelligam  was  the 
legend  on  the  ecclesiastical  banner.  Scotus  Erigena 
had  dared  to  say,  "  Authority  is  derived  from  reason, 
not  reason  from  authority ;  and  where  the  former  is 
not  confirmed  by  the  latter,  it  is  valueless.,,  Had 
Erigena  founded  a  school  on  this  basis,  the  attitude 
of  the  Church  towards  it  would  have  been  necessarily 
hostile.  But  this  temporary  aberration  of  thought 
from  dogmatic  channels  was  forgotten,  and  the 
Church  welcomed  the  extension  of  learning  in  the 
twelfth  century,  while,  of  course,  keeping  a  watchful 
eye  on  Abelard  and  his  spiritual  successors. 

As  we  approach  the  period  which  saw  the  birth 
of  those  institutions  known  as  Studia  Publica  or 
Generalia,  and  ere  long  to  be  known  as  "  universities," 
we  have  to  extend  our  vision  and  recognize  the 
circumstances  of  the  time,  and  those  changes  in  the 
social  condition  of  Europe  which  made  great  central 
schools  possible. — schools  to  be  frequented  not  merely 
by  the  young  ecclesiastic,  but  by  laymen. 

Among  other  causes  which  led  to  the  diffusion  of 
a  demand  for  education  among  the  laity,  was,  I  think, 
the    institution    or    reorganization    of    municipalities, 


RISE   OF  UNIVERSITIES.  95 

It  was  about  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century  that  the 
civic  Communes  (Communia)  began  to  seek  and 
obtain,  from  royal  and  other  authorities,  charters  of 
incorporation  constituting  their  internal  government 
and  conferring  certain  freedoms  and  privileges  as 
against  the  encroachment  of  lay  and  ecclesiastical 
feudal  barons.  The  municipal  movement  in  Italy 
is  too  well  known  to  need  more  than  a  reference. 
In  France,  Louis  VI.  issued  (1135)  several  letters 
of  franchise  to  cities  and  towns.  -  About  the  same 
time,  and  somewhat  prior  to  this,  trade  guilds  had 
been  formed  in  many  cities  for  mutual  protection, 
the  advancement  of  commerce,  and  the  internal 
regulation  of  the  various  crafts.  There  immediately 
followed  a  desire  for  schools  in  the  more  important 
commercial  towns.  In  Italy  such  schools  arose  in 
Bologna,  Milan,  Brescia,  and  Florence ;  and  in  Ger- 
many they  arose  in  Lubeck,  Hamburg,  Breslau, 
Nordhausen,  Stettin,  Leipsic,  and  Nurnberg.  The 
distinctive  characteristic  of  these  city  schools  was, 
that  they  do  not  seem  to  have  been  under  the  direct 
control  of  the  Church,  or  to  have  been  always  taught 
by  priests;  further,  that  the  native  tongue  (German 
or  Italian,  as  the  case  might  be)  was  taught.  Read- 
ing, writing,  and  a  little  arithmetic  seem  to  have 
formed  the  staple  of  the  instruction.  The  custom 
of  dictating,  writing  down,  and  then  learning  by 
heart  what  was  written — universal  in  the  schools 
of  the  preceding  centuries  —  was,  of  course,  still 
9 


96     MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

followed  in  these  burgh  schools.  This  custom  was 
almost  inevitable.  Printing  was  not  yet  invented, 
and  manuscript  books  were  expensive.  But  such  a 
method  of  instruction  was  not  without  its  advantages. 
It  exercised  the  pupils  in  a  practical  or  imitative  way 
in  writing,  grammar,  composition,  and  spelling,  while 
it  could  not  fail  to  train  the  memory. 

We  may  now  briefly  summarize  the  status  quo 
in  (say)  the  year  noo,  when  the  university  move- 
ment may  be  said  to  have  originated.  The  Bene- 
dictine monastery  schools  and  the  episcopal  and 
foundation  schools  were  prosecuting  in  an  arid  spirit 
the  old  trivium,  to  the  benefits  of  which  the  children 
of  laymen  were  certainly  admitted,  but  the  main  aim 
of  which  was  the  training  of  the  priest  and  the 
monk.  Some  of  these  had  a  high  reputation,  and 
included  the  quadrivium  in  their  course  ;  and  many 
monks  were  skilled  in  the  circle  of  the  sciences  in 
their  traditionary  form.  The  towns  had  in  many 
parts  of  Europe  started  vernacular  schools  free  from 
all  ecclesiastical  control,  the  aim  of  which  was  limited 
to  what  we  now  call  primary  instruction.  The  in- 
creased communication  with  Africa  and  the  East 
through  the  Crusades  had  introduced  men  to  a 
standard  of  learning  among  the  Arabs,  unknown  in 
Europe.  Outside  the  school,  the  order  of  chivalry 
had  introduced  a  new  and  higher  ethical  spirit  than 
had  been  known  in  the  previous  centuries.  Civic 
communities  and   trade   guilds  were   forming  them- 


RISE   OF  UNIVERSITIES.  97 

selves  and  seeking  charters  of  incorporation.  Above 
all,  the  Crusades,  by  stimulating  the  ardour  and 
exciting  the  intellects  of  men,  had  unsettled  old  con- 
vention by  bringing  men  of  all  ranks  within  the  sacred 
circle  of  a  common  enthusiasm,  and  into  contact  with 
foreign  civilizations. 

The  desire  for  a  higher  education,  and  the  impulse 
to  more  profound  investigation,  that  characterized  the 
beginning  and  course  of  the  twelfth  century,  was  thus 
only  a  part  of  a  widespread  movement,  political  and 
moral,  which  showed  itself  in  the  order  of  chivalry,  in 
the  Crusades,  the  rise  of  free  towns,  the  incorporation 
of  civic  life,  the  organization  of  industries  in  the  form 
of  guilds,  and,  we  may  also  add,  as  another  indication 
of  the  mental  quickening,  in  the  rise  of  a  Provencal 
modern  language  and  literature  and  of  not  a  few 
heresies.  The  universal  domination  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  too,  had  by  this  time  created  a  spiritual 
European  commonwealth,  and  a  common  language 
which  made  communication  between  the  citizens  of 
different  countries  possible,  and  secured  the  safety 
of  travelling  clerics — a  word  of  very  wide  signification, 
and  gradually  extended  to  all  scholars.  The  abbeyb 
and  monasteries  had  hospitia  or  hostels,  attached  to 
them,  and  travellers  moved  from  one  to  the  other. 
The  dress  of  a  monk  or  the  designation  of  a  scholar 
guaranteed  protection  wherever  the  Catholic  Church 
existed,  irrespectively  of  nationality.  The  university 
movement,  accordingly,  was   not   an  isolated  move- 


98      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

ment,  or  due  to  only  one  cause.  The  times  were  ripei 
and  the  general  conditions  of  life  made  the  new 
development  possible. 

Let  us  further  bear  in  mind  that  while  the 
Romano-Hellenic  schools  had  long  disappeared,  there 
still  existed,  in  many  towns,  episcopal  schools  of  a 
high  class,  many  of  which  might  be  regarded  as 
continuations  of  the  old  imperial  provincial  institu- 
tions, of  which  I  spoke  in  a  former  lecture.  In 
Bologna  and  Paris,  Rheims  and  Naples,  it  was  so. 
The  arts  curriculum  professed  in  these  centres  was,  for 
the  time  and  state  of  knowledge,  good.  These  schools, 
indeed,  had  never  quite  lost  the  fresh  impulse  given  by 
Charlemagne  and  his  successors.  It  is  essential, 
then,  that  we  keep  these  schools  in  view,  for,  accord- 
ing to  my  view  of  educational  history,  the  great  studia 
publico,  or  generalia  arose  out  of  them.  They  were 
themselves,  in  a  narrow  sense,  already  studia  pablica. 

Nor  is  this  all ;  for  when  we  look  at  the  more 
important  of  the  schools,  such  as  those  of  St.  Galle, 
Bologna,  Paris,  Salernum  (Monte  Cassino),  Bee, 
Rheims,  Lerins,  and  Oxford,  and  realize  the  fact  that, 
already  in  the  eleventh  century  (and  to  a  certain  extent 
before  this),  these  schools,  as  possessing  a  high  repu- 
tation, were  resorted  to  by  the  more  advanced  and 
ambitious  students  from  all  quarters,  the  question, 
What  is  a  university?  wherein  consists  its  differentia- 
tion from  a  first-class  Benedictine  or  cathedral  school? 
is  not  so  easy  to  answer  as  may  at  first  appear. 


RISE   OF  UNIVERSITIES.  99 

At  Bee,  for  example,  Anselm  (1033-1108)  had 
been  both  student  and  prior,  leaving  it  for  the  primacy 
of  England.  All  civilized  Europe  recognized  the 
celebrity  of  this  theological  school.  Anselm  may  be 
regarded,  along  perhaps  with  Berengar  (setting  aside 
Erigena,  who  belonged  to  a  long  prior  period),  as  the 
true  founder  of  the  speculative  theology,  which  by 
the  help  of  Roscelin,  and  after  him  of  Abelard,  led  to 
the  University  of  Paris.* 

Now,  looking,  first,  to  the  germ  out  of  which  the 
universities  grew,  I  think  we  must  say  that  the 
universities  may  be  regarded  as  a  natural  develop- 
ment of  the  cathedral  and  monastery  schools  ;  but 
if  we  seek  for  an  external  motive  force  urging  men 
to  undertake  the  more  profound  and  independent 
study  of  the  liberal  arts,  we  can  find  it  only  in  the 
Saracenic  schools  of  Bagdad,  Babylon,  Alexandria, 
and  Cordova.  The  Saracens  were  necessarily  brought 
into  contact  with  Greek  literature  just  when  the 
Western  Church  was  drifting  away  from  it,  and  by 
their  translations  of  Hippocrates,  Galen,  Aristotle, 
and  other  Greek  classics,  they  restored  what  may  be 
quite  accurately  called  the  "university  life"  of  the 
Greeks.  Many  of  their  teachers  were,  of  course, 
themselves  Greeks,  who  had  conformed  to  the  new 
faith.     To  these  Arab  schools  Christians  had  resorted 

*  As  to  the  Oxford  school,  the  discredit  thrown  on  the  chronicle 
of  Ingulphus,  Abbot  of  Croyland,  destroys  the  chief  evidence  of  the 
high  character  of  the  work  done  there  at  this  time. 


ioo       MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

in  considerable  numbers,  and  were  cordially  welcomed. 
They  brought  back,  especially  to  Italy,  the  knowledge 
and  the  impulse  they  had  gained.  This  will  appear 
more  clearly  when  we  come  to  speak  of  Salernum, 
which  unquestionably  led  the  way.  We  are  right, 
then,  I  think,  in  connecting  the  birth  of  universities, 
on  the  one  hand,  with  the  cathedral  and  Benedictine 
schools,  of  which  they  were  an  evolution,  and  with 
the  Saracenic  impulse  on  the  other, — the  latter  being, 
in  fact,  old  Greece  at  work  again  through  an  alien 
channel.  Some  influence,  also,  may  have  come  from 
the  Greeks  of  Constantinople  through  Venice,  for  in 
the  eleventh  century  there  was  still  a  survival  of  old 
Greek  ideas.  In  the  Eastern  capital  Greek  literature 
was  still  studied,  and  the  Greek  tongue  written  (it 
is  said)  with  classical  purity.  But  the  activity  of 
thought  there,  was  as  nothing  when  compared  with 
that  of  the  Arabs. 

But  the  cloister  and  cathedral  schools,  and  the 
Saracenic  impulse,  would  not  of  themselves  have  given 
rise  to  universities.  There  were  other  actuating  causes, 
and  these  I  consider  to  have  been  :  (i)  The  gradual 
growth  of  traditionary  learning,  which  accumulated  so 
great  a  weight  on  the  subjects  that  most  interest  the 
mind  of  man  and  are  most  essential  to  his  welfare  as 
a  member  of  society,  as  to  demand  specialization.  (2) 
The  growth  of  a  lay  or  anti-monastic  feeling  in 
connection  with  the  work  of  physician,  lawyer,  and 
even  theologian.     (3)  The  actual  specializing  of  the 


RISE  OF  UNIVMRSfZlJgS.  ioi 

leading  studies — medicine  at  Salernum,  law  at 
Bologna,  and  theology,  with  its  cognate  philosophy, 
at  Paris.  As  a  matter  of  course,  this  specialization 
drew  (as  it  would  to-day  draw)  a  vast  number  of 
students  to  the  noted  centres  of  instruction — both 
those  intended  for  the  religious  life,  whether  as  priests 
or  monks,  and  those  who  desired  as  laymen,  and  free 
from  monastic  vows  and  monastic  rule,  to  mix  with 
their  fellow-men  as  professional  workers.  This,  I 
submit,  is  the  chief  key  to  the  explanation  of  the 
rise  of  the  higher  or  university  schools.  They  were 
specialized  schools,  as  opposed  to  the  schools  of 
Arts,  and  they  were  open  to  all  without  restriction  as 
studia  publica  or  generalia,  as  opposed  to  the  more 
restricted  ecclesiastical  schools  which  were  under  a 
"  Rule." 

Indeed,  in  the  beginning,  and  for  some  time,  there 
was  too  little  restriction.  The  daily  life  at  these  centres 
was  not  only  free,  but  often  licentious,  and  always 
more  or  less  turbulent.  They  had  a  powerful  attrac- 
tion for  the  idle  as  well  as  for  the  industrious  youth 
of  Europe,  and  life  at  the  great  seats  of  learning  was, 
in  its  way,  almost  as  "jolly  "  as  the  Crusades.  These 
crusades,  moreover,  as  well  as  the  growth  of  mercantile 
intercourse,  had  by  this  time  accustomed  men's  minds 
to  travel  and  adventure,  and  the  Church  protection,  as 
I  have  already  pointed  out,  made  travelling  much 
easier  than  has  been  commonly  supposed. 

Speaking  of  the  University  of  Paris,  Crevier  (i.  i) 


m      MEDICAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

says,  u  By  its  essential  constitution  it  is  all  composed 
of  seculars,  and  in  such  a  way  that  the  regulars  whom 
it  has  been  forced  to  admit  have  been  admitted  only 
under  conditions  and  restrictions  which  hinder  them 
from  dominating,  and  which  assure  to  the  seculars 
complete  pre-eminence."  Again,  he  points  out  that 
the  masters  have  no  superiors,  and  are  accountable 
only  to  public  opinion  and  the  law  of  the  state.  There 
was  thus  not  only  free  living ;  there  was  free  teaching 
and  free  learning.  Doubtless  the  teachers  were  at 
first  ecclesiastics,  if  not  monks  and  bound  by  their 
vows ;  but  they  were  living  out  of  community,  and 
were  quickly  succeeded  by  men  who  were  not  monks. 
The  specialization  of  studies  then,  and  the  growing 
feeling  that  professional  studies  might  be  freely  pur- 
sued outside  monastic  or  canonical  regulations — the 
growth  of  a  lay  feeling,  as  we  may  call  it — constitute 
the  specific,  as  opposed  to  the  general,  forces  which 
differentiated  the  new  higher  institutions  from  the 
higher  class  of  cathedral  and  Benedictine  schools.  An 
incidental  and  contributory  proof  of  this  lies  in  the 
great  success  which  attended  the  specialized  schools 
of  Salernum,  Bologna,  and  Paris,  as  compared  with 
Oxford  (till  after  the  migration  from  Paris),  which 
seems  to  have  retained  longer  the  character  of  a 
general  school  of  Arts  merely. 

Bulaeus  makes  an  attempt  to  differentiate  a 
university  from  a  school  or  college  of  Arts,  and  finds 
that  they  differ — 


RISE   OF  UNIVERSITIES.  103 

I  Ratione  discipline?.  That  is  to  say,  they  teach 
not  merely  arts,  but  also  law,  medicine,  and  theology. 

2.  Ratione  loci.  They  are  placed  in  suitable,  healthy, 
and  accessible  localities. 

3.  Ratione  fundatoriun.  That  is,  they  are  founded 
by  popes,  emperors,  and  kings ;  whereas  colleges  and 
trivial  and  quadrivial  schools  are  founded  by  lesser 
authorities  in  Church  and  State. 

4.  Ratione  privilegiorum.  A  university  as  such 
cannot  exist  without  special  privileges  both  pecuniary 
and  legal. 

5.  Ratione  regiminis.  A  college  is  governed  by 
one  head  ;  a  university  is  a  respublica  litteraria. 

Though  all  these,  except  the  second,  are  distinctive 
notes  of  a  complete  universitas,  historical  facts  compel 
us  to  refuse  assent  to  the  other  characteristics  as  being 
essential.  The  first,  fourth,  and  fifth  confirm,  so  far 
as  they  go,  my  view  as  to  the  characteristics  which 
gradually  raised  a  school  into  a  studium  generale. 
Whether  we  are  to  say  the  Arts  schools  developed 
into  universities,  or  that  universities,  being  set  on 
foot  by  the  motive  forces  to  which  we  have  referred, 
gradually  absorbed  the  Arts  schools,  matters  little. 
This  is  certain,  that  specialized  studies  always  pre- 
sumed some  course  in  arts — the  trivium  at  least — 
and  if  this  were  at  first  obtained  outside  the  uni- 
versitas proper,  it  very  soon  became  an  integral  part 
of  the  university  teaching.  At  Paris  and  Oxford  the 
Arts  unquestionably  retained  their  hold  from  the  first, 


104      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

but  the  extent  to  which  the  new  specialized  subjects 
tended  at  one  time  to  overshadow  the  old  is  shown  by 
the  old  couplet — 

"  Dat  Galenus  opes,  dat  Justinianus  honores 
Sed  genus  et  species  cogitur  ire  pedes." 

Generally,  I  would  say  that  the  existence  of  a 
course  in  arts  was  always  assumed,  but  the  studium 
generale  outside  this  might  consist  of  only  one 
specialty,  as  for  long  was  the  case  at  Montpellier, 
Toulouse,  Bologna,  etc.,  etc.  The  "  generale "  had 
no  reference  to  the  encyclopsedism  of  the  instruction. 
I  would  briefly  define  a  primary  studium  generale  as 
"a  privileged  higher,  specialized,  and  self-governing 
school  open  to  all  the  world,  free  from  monastic  or 
canonical  rule,  its  privileges  including  the  right  of 
promotion." 

I  have  given  in  this  lecture,  briefly,  both  the 
general  and  the  specific  causes  which  (we  may  almost 
say)  forced  the  new  educational  development.  In 
treating  of  individual  universities  I  shall  illustrate  my 
theory.  As  regards,  further,  the  form  of  internal  con- 
stitution adopted  by  the  universities,  it  may  be  well 
here,  for  the  sake  of  clearness,  to  add  that  I  consider 
that  the  trade  guilds  of  the  Middle  Ages  exercised 
a  powerful  influence  on  the  character  of  university 
constitutions,  including  even  their  graduation  system. 

In  dealing  with  the  three  primary  studia  generaliay 
it  is  difficult  to  determine  whether  we  ought  to  begin 


RISE  OF  UNIVERSITIES.  105 

with  Paris,  Bologna,  or  Salernum.  I  choose  to  begin 
with  Salernum,  because  I  think  there  is  ample  evi- 
dence of  specialized  instruction  and  of  a  collegiate 
constitution  there  before  these  characteristics  were  to 
be  found  at  the  other  seats  of  learning  which  contest 
with  Salernum  the  honour  of  priority.  And  I  do  this 
although  I  am  well  aware  that  Salernum  had  little 
influence  on  the  history  of  universities  elsewhere. 
Paris  and  Bologna  alone  formed  the  models  or  types 
of  the  European  system.* 

*  Strange  to  say,  Bologna  had  more  influence  in  France  than  Paris 
hai. 

The  preceding  lecture  finds  its  complement  in  the  lecture  oa 
un  versity  constuutioos. 


/ 


io6      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 


LECTURE   VII. 

THE   FIRST   UNIVERSITIES.* 

The  Schola  Salernitana,  and  the  University  of  Naples. 

To  fix  precisely  the  date  of  the  rise  of  the  first 
specialized  schools  or  universities  is  impossible,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  they  were  not  founded.  Europe 
was  at  the  beginning  of  a  new  intellectual  movement, 
and  had  to  feel  its  own  way  to  the  forms  which 
might  best  provide  a  fitting  channel.  So  in  Athens 
at  the  time  of  the  sophists.  Their  teaching  seems 
to  have  culminated  in  the  rhetorical  school  of  Iso- 
crates,t  which,  though  a  private  institution,  may  be 
regarded  as  containing  the  germ  of  the  future  uni- 
versity both  of  ancient  and  modern  times.  For 
it  was  attended  by  youths  who  had  already  gone 
through  the  ordinary  schools  and  were  contemplating 
a  public  life  ;  and  not  only  by  these,  but  by  men  who 
afterwards  led  a  purely  literary  life,  such  as  Theo- 
pompus  and  Ephorus,  and  Asclepiades  and  Theodectes. 

*  It  is  to  be  understood  that  I  use  this  term  for  convenience,  while 
fully  aware  that  it  was  not  applied  in  the  ancient  world  nor  to  the 
studia  generalia  of  mediaeval  times  for  two  centuries  after  they  arose. 

t  In  saying  this,  I  do  not  forget  the  purely  philosophical  schools. 


THE  FIRST  UNIVERSITIES.  107 

"If  the  example  of  Clearchus,  the  subsequent  tyrant 
of  Heraclea,"  says  Mr.  E.  Kirkpatrick,*  "  may  be 
regarded  as  establishing  the  rule,  the  term  of  study 
occupied  four  years,  and  the  fee  for  the  entire  course 
amounted  to  a  thousand  drachmae."  We  know  that 
Isocrates  anticipated  Quintilian  in  considering  that 
the  equipment  of  the  true  orator  included  the  study 
of  literature  and  ethics,  etc. ;  and  these  were  prose- 
cuted in  due  order  in  this  school.  Out  of  this  school 
and  that  of  Plato,  the  University  of  Athens,  if  we  may 
use  the  expression,  arose  and  was  followed  by  others 
{vide  Lecture  I.).  But  neither  to  the  universities  of  the 
empire,  nor  of  Byzantium,  nor  to  the  Arab  schools, 
is  there  evidence  that  the  European  revival  of  the 
twelfth  century  owed  anything,  save  the  Saracenic 
impulse.  There  was  no  "organic  unity  of  succession," 
so  far  as  I  can  see,  although  there  are  many  curious 
parallelisms.!  The  simplest  account  of  the  new  uni- 
versity origins  is  the  most  correct.  It  would  appear 
that  certain  active-minded  men  of  marked  eminence 
began  to  give  instruction  in  medical  subjects  at 
Salerno,  and  in  law  at  Bologna,  in  a  spirit  and  manner 
not  previously  attempted,  to  youths  who  had  left  the 
monastery  and  cathedral  schools,  and  who  desired  to 
equip  themselves  for  professional  life.  Pupils  flocked 
to  them  ;  and  the  more  able  of  these  students,  finding 

*  "The    University,"  p.    118.    (Auth.)    Memnon,   irepl   'HpaK\c(as; 
Muller,  "  Fr.  Historicorum,"  ii.  876. 
t  I  shall  speak  of  this  again. 


108      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

that  there  was  a  public  demand  for  this  higher 
specialized  instruction,  remained  at  head-quarters,  and 
themselves  became  teachers  or  doctors. 

The  Church  did  not  found  universities  any  more 
than  it  founded  the  order  of  chivalry.  They  were 
founded  by  a  concurrence  (not  wholly  fortuitous)  of 
able  men  who  had  something  they  wished  to  teach, 
and  of  youths  who  desired  to  learn.  None  the  less 
were  the  acquiescence  and  protection  of  Church  and 
State  necessary  in  those  days  for  the  fostering  of  these 
infant  seminaries.  Free,  voluntary,  self-supporting 
centres  of  learning,  independent  of  ecclesiastical  con- 
trol and  of  civil  direction,  they  certainly  were  in  their 
beginnings.  Free  teaching  and  free  learning  were  in 
the  very  heart  of  them.  Out  of  a  free  spirit  they 
arose,  and  not  out  of  the  brain  of  an  ecclesiastic, 
seeking  definite  ends  for  the  glory  of  the  Church. 
But  while  this  is  true,  it  is  not  true  that  the  Church 
was  indifferent,  or  that  there  was  no  ecclesiastical 
supervision.  The  astute  statesmen  who  at  Rome 
had  formed  the  noble  conception  of  a  spiritual  empire 
of  Europe,  in  which  all  men  and  all  nations  should 
be  equal  partakers,  and  which  would  transcend  the 
petty  distinctions  of  race  and  nation,  had  their  eyes 
everywhere.  They  were  actuated  by  no  narrow  feel- 
ings of  jealousy  when  they  saw  these  centres  of  free 
learning  and  free  teaching  growing  up.  On  the  con- 
trary, just  as  they  seized  on  the  order  of  chivalry 
and  sanctified  it  by  turning  it  to  spiritual  uses  under 


THE  FIRST  UNIVERSITIES.  109 

the  blessing  of  the  Church,  so  they  welcomed  the 
rise  of  the  new  centres  of  intellectual  activity,  and, 
without  any  idea  of  controlling,  gave  them  encourage- 
ment and  privileges,  believing  that  all  learning  tended 
to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  the  Church. 

But  we  are  to  some  extent  anticipating.  For  as 
yet  at  the  close  of  the  eleventh  and  beginning  of  the 
twelfth  centuries,  Salerno,  Bologna,  and  Paris  were 
practically  in  the  hands  of  self-constituted  teachers. 
Irnerius,  the  first  great  authority  in  civil  law,  was 
beginning  to  lecture  at  Bologna  and  gathering  crowds 
of  students  ;  at  Salerno,  some  time  prior  to  this, 
medicine  was  being  publicly  taught ;  and,  about  the 
same  time,  philosophical,  or  what  we  now  call  "arts," 
studies  were  being  prosecuted  at  Paris  with  a  special 
view  to  theological  inquiry  and  the  priestly  office. 

Thus  not  only  were  the  infant  universities  special- 
ized schools,  but  their  primary  purpose,  as  indeed 
manifestly  follows  from  their  specialization,  was  a 
"  professional "  one.  They  had  practical  ends  ;  their 
aim  was  to  minister  to  the  immediate  needs  of  society. 
Speculation  and  the  scientific  spirit,  nay,  the  Refor- 
mation and  the  liberties  of  Europe,  arose  out  of  them  ; 
but  such  large  issues  were  not  present  to  the  minds 
of  the  first  doctors.  They  simply  aimed  at  critically 
expounding  recognized  authorities  in  the  interest  of 
social  wants.  It  was  the  needs  of  the  human  body 
which  originated  Salerno  ;  it  was  the  needs  of  men  as 
related  to  each  other  in  a  civil  organism  which  origi- 


no       MEDIALVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

nated  Bologna;  it  was  the  eternal  needs  of  the  human 
spirit  in  its  relation  to  the  unseen  that  originated 
Paris.  We  may  say,  then,  that  it  was  the  improve- 
ment of  the  professions  of  medicine,  law,  and  theology 
which  led  to  the  inception  and  organization  of  the 
first  great  schools.* 

I  am  aware  that  it  is  usual  to  regard  Paris  as  pri- 
marily a  university  of  arts.  But  a  closer  inspection 
will  satisfy  the  investigator  that  "  arts  "  were  studied 
mainly  with  a  view  to  the  priesthood,  and  that  in  so  far 
as  the  school  had  an  "  university  "  character,  arts  meant 
philosophy,  as  handmaid  and  rationalizer  of  theology. 
The  purely  philosophical  studies  (and  philosophy  then 
meant  the  study  of  nature  as  well  as  of  the  mind 
of  man)  gradually  asserted  for  themselves  increasing 
importance,  and  finally,  as  we  shall  in  the  sequel  see, 
led  to  such  differences  among  the  Parisian  doctors 
and  the  mendicant  orders  that  the  only  solution 
was  the  separation  of  the  strictly  theological  from 
the  other  arts'  studies.  The  former  were,  for  the  first 
time,  formally  constituted  a  "faculty  of  theology"  so 
late  as  1272. 

Of  the  three  great  schools  which  we  have  named, 
there  is  sufficient  ground  for  believing  that  the  first  to 
reach  such  a  development  as  to  entitle  it  to  the  name 
of  a  studium  generale  or  university  was  the  Schola 

*  Towards  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century  or  beginning  of  the  twelfth, 
medicine  was  being  taught  at  Montpellier  by  Jews  who  had  acquired 
their  knowledge  at  Arab  schools. 


SCIIOLA  SALERN1TANA.  in 

Salemitana,  although  it  never  was  a  university,  tech- 
nically speaking  ;  and  it  is  further  interesting  to  note, 
in  connection  with  the  study  of  the  physical  sciences, 
that  the  Salernitan  school  and  the  University  of 
Naples  owed  their  first  formal  recognition  and 
privileges  not  to  the  pope,  as  did  other  seats  of 
learning,  but  to  the  civil  powrer.  By  following  its 
early  fortunes  we  shall,  I  think,  learn  much  as  to  the 
early  growth  of  universities. 

The  Schola  Salernitana. 

Let  us  now,  then,  look  more  closely  at  the  rise  of 
this  Salernitan  school  and  its  transformation  into  an 
university,  or  at  least  a  recognized  limb  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Naples.  By  so  doing  we  shall  see  more 
clearly  how  the  "  university,"  as  understood  in  Europe 
for  the  last  six  hundred  years,  gradually  came  into 
existence.  We  shall  find  in  the  gradual  development 
of  this  medical  school  confirmation  of  the  general 
historical  interpretation,  which  we  have  ventured  to 
give  in  the  preceding  pages ;  and  if  we  are  rightly 
to  understand  university  history  we  must  not  grudge 
careful  attention  to  the  rise  of  an  institution  so 
famous— -fons  medicincz,  as  Petrarch  called  it. 

First,  we  have  to  note  that  Benedict  established  his 
great  monastery  at  Monte  Cassino,  near  Salernum,  in 
528  A.D.,  and  that  one  of  the  rules  of  his  order  was  "to 
apply  themselves  to  the  study  of  letters,  and  in  all 
important  disciplines  to  instruct  all  the  members  of 
10 


ii2      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

their  order"*  (including,  of  course,  young  aspirants)  ; 
but  they  were  not  permitted  to  lecture  in  public  to 
all  and  sundry.f  Among  other  studies,  medicine 
engaged  the  minds  of  the  monks,  and  here,  as  well  as 
in  monasteries  elsewhere,  medical  monks  gave  advice 
and  medicines  gratuitously.  The  books  studied  and 
expounded  (and  transcribed  again  and  again)  were 
Hippocrates  and  Galen.  These  facts  are  sufficient  to 
establish  a  direct  connection  with  Greek  medicine 
long  before  the  Saracen  influence  was  felt  in  Europe. 
Indeed,  Hippocrates  and  Galen  were  translated  into 
Latin  before  A.D.  560.  % 

It  seems  to  have  been  entirely  to  the  Benedictine 
monastery  that  Salernum  owed  the  first  beginnings  ot 
its  fame.  Whether  a  later  writer  (Scipio  Mozella) 
be  correct  in  his  details  or  not,  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  Charlemagne,  in  802  A.D.,  gave  a  great 
impulse  to  this  monastery  school.  Among  other 
reforms,  he  ordered  Greek  books  to  be  translated 
from  the  Arabic  into  Latin.  It  is  certain  that  between 
this  date  and  the  appearance  of  the  first  man  who  may 
be  said  to  have  had  an  European  medical  reputation 
as  a  teacher,  Salernum  was  known,  in  consequence 
of  the  "  public  "  instructions  given  by  the  monks  of  the 
neighbouring  monastery,  as  a  civitas  Hippocratica. 

The  abbot  of  the  monastery  from  856,  Bertharius 

*  Literarum  studiis  operam  dare  et  in  omnibus  prceclaiis  disciplinis 
sues  o?nnes  erudire. 

t  Concionare  aut  publice  legere. 

\  Page  34  of  Ackermann's  "  Regimen  Scholse  Salernitanae." 


SCHOLA  SALERN1TANA.  1 13 

(of  French  origin),  was  a  very  learned  man,  and  two 
manuscripts  of  his  are  said  to  be  still  in  existence  in 
which  he  had  made  a  collection  of  hygienic  and  cura- 
tive rules.  He  and  his  monks  were  massacred  by  the 
Saracens  in  883.  Again,  Alphanus  (secundus),  distin- 
guished in  philosophy  and  theology,  and  not  less 
skilled  in  singing  than  in  medicine,  wrote  a  book  on 
"The  Union  of  the  Soul  and  Body/'  and  another  on 
"  The  Four  Humours."  Desiderius,  another  abbot  of 
the  monastery,  and  afterwards  pope  (Victor  III.  1085 
A.D  ),  is  recorded  to  have  been  medicines peritissimus. 

It  is  only  about  this  date  that  we  reach  a  man 
of  European  reputation  who  finally  placed  Salernum 
in  the  front  as  a  great  and  specialized  medical 
studium  publicum.  We  refer  to  Constantine,  the 
Carthaginian  Christian,  who  had  spent  the  greater 
part  of  his  life  in  travel  and  study,  especially  in  the 
East.  It  is  recorded  that  in  Babylon  he  studied 
grammar,  dialectic,  arithmetic,  mathematics,  necro- 
mancy, music,  and  physics.  He  visited  also  India 
and  Egypt,  and  returned  to  Carthage  the  most 
learned  man  of  his  time  in  all  medical  science. 
The  jealousy  of  rivals  and  a  suspicion  of  dealing 
in  witchcraft  compelled  him  to  flee  from  his  native 
city,  and  he  naturally  took  refuge  in  Salernum. 
There  he  was  held  in  high  favour  by  Robert  Guis- 
card  the  Norman,  who  had  by  this  time  conquered 
Apulia,  and  was  no  less  distinguished  as  a  patron  of 
arts  and  letters  than  as  a  warrior.     Constantine  pub- 


U4       MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

lished  many  medical  works  of  his  own,  including  com- 
pendiums,  translated  many  from  the  Arabic,  and 
finally,  retiring  to  the  monastery  on  Monte  Cassino, 
died  there  in  1087.  The  precise  date  of  his  arrival  in 
Salernum  is  not  given,  but  if  we  fix  it  at  1065,  we  may 
assume  this  as  the  date  of  the  established  European 
reputation  of  the  Salernitan  school.  About  this  time, 
if  not  indeed  before  it,  the  school  was  frequented  not 
only  by  students  from  all  parts  of  Italy  and  France, 
but  by  some  from  Germany,  and  even  by  Moors  and 
Jews.  Medicine  is  said  to  have  been  taught  in  the 
Hebrew  as  well  as  in  the  Latin  tongue.  Whether  all 
the  Christian  teachers  at  Salernum  were  at  this  time 
monks  or  not  is  uncertain  ;  but  this  is  clear,  that  the 
monks  and  others  taught  publicly  in  Salernum,  and 
were  not  limited  as  to  the  class  of  students  they 
welcomed.     Jews  also  taught. 

Contemporary  with  Constantine  there  were  also 
lady-students.  Gisulfus,  Duke  of  Salernum,  who  had 
been  displaced  by  Robert  Guiscard,  had  a  sister  named 
Sichelgaita  who  had  a  medical  reputation,  especially 
in  the  department  of  poisons;  and  several  other  female 
medical  writers  are  referred  to  in  those  early  times. 
Whether  the  body  of  teachers  was  in  any  way  organ- 
ized as  a  "  college  "  so  early  as  this  is  not  very  clear. 
But  the  celebrated  health  rules  written  in  Latin  verse, 
and  addressed  to  the  King  of  England  in  11 00  A.D., 
show  that  at  that  date,  if  not  earlier,  there  was  a  col- 
legiate combination  of  some  sort,  for  the  writers  call 


SCHOLA  SALERNITANA.  115 

themselves  tota  scJwla  Salerni.  We  know  also  from 
Giannone's  "  History  of  Naples "  that  Duke  Robert, 
brother  of  William  the  Conqueror,  resorted  to  Salernum 
as  a  recognized  school  of  medicine  on  h.?s  way  home 
from  the  Crusades  in  1096,  to  be  there  treated  for  a 
serious  wound.* 

Robert  Guiscard  (who  died  in  1085)  conferred 
privileges  on  the  medical  school,  and  as  these  would 
not  be  conferred  on  individuals,  but  on  a  body  of 
teachers  who  had  already  voluntarily,  in  some  fashion, 
organized  themselves,  we  may  safely  date  the  collegium 
not  later  than  1060  A.D. ;  and  certainly  before  1100 
A.D.  (probably  long  before),  the  head  of  the  school 
was  known  under  the  designation  of  "  prior.  "  Before 
1 1 00,  Roger,  who  succeeded  his  father  Robert,  con- 
ferred additional  privileges  on  the  schola.  That  there 
was  at  this  time,  and  had  been  for  some  time,  a 
thoroughly  organized  college,  is  evident  from  the 
terms  of  the  Rogerian  precept  or  decree. 

Roger  II.  in  11 37  instituted  the  first  state  ex- 
aminations in  medicine.  All  those  desirous  to 
practise  medicine  had  to  pass  an  examination,  at 
which  royal  assessors  were  present.  Those  who 
passed  received  a  licence.  Though  the  college  gave 
the  licence,  it  was  given  under  the  authority  of  the 
Crown.  The  penalty  for  practising  without  a  licence 
was  imprisonment  and  confiscation  of  goods.     This 

*  To  this  visit  is  said  to  have  been  due  the  inscription  of  the  famous 
Salernitan  medical  verses  to  "  the  King  of  England." 


u6      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

was  done,  the  statute  says,  ne  in  regno  nostro  subjecti 
periclitentur  imperitia  medicorum.  The  sale  of  drugs 
was  not  regulated  till  some  years  later.  Even  for 
permission  to  practise  surgery — an  art  practised  in 
other  countries  for  centuries  after  this  by  barbers — 
— it  was  required  by  the  Crown  that  there  should 
be  one  year's  attendance  on  lecturers  who  taught 
anatomy  and  chirurgy.  The  qualification  to  teach  is 
not  referred  to.  The  degree  in  Paris,  and  other 
universities  modelled  on  it,  was,  as  we  shall  afterwards 
see,  a  licencia  docendi ;  but  in  Salernum  it  was  a 
licencia  medendi,  or  licence  to  practise  the  healing  art. 
I  think,  then,  that  we  may  date  Salernum  as  a  public 
school  from  A.D.  1060,  and  as  a  privileged  school  from 
1 IOO. 

University  of  Naples. 

Meanwhile,  the  general  movement  in  the  higher 
education  had  been  making  great  progress  at  Bologna, 
Paris,  Oxford,  and  at  the  specialized  schools  of 
Montpellier  (medicine)  and  Orleans  (civil  law).  St. 
Thomas  Aquinas  (born  1224)  thus  writes  :  "  Quatuor 
sunt  urbes  caeteris  praeeminentes,  Parisius  in  scientiis, 
Salernum  in  medicinis,  Bononia  in  legibus,  Aurelianis 
in  actoribus  "  (pleaders).  Salernum  was  an  arts  as  well 
as  a  medical  school,  for  the  college  demanded  a  three 
years'  course  in  arts  as  a  preliminary  to  a  five  years' 
course  of  medicine ;  but  there  did  not  exist  in 
Southern  Italy  any  school  of  law  which  could  rival 
Bologna,  or  of  theology  which  could  rival  Paris.     But 


NAPLES.  117 

Naples  had  for  long  had  teachers  of  law,  though  of  no 
great  reputation,  and  the  vicinity  of  the  Benedictine 
monastery  of  Monte  Cassino  made  it  easy  to  consti- 
tute a  school  of  theology.  Accordingly,  Frederick  II., 
Emperor  of  the  Romans  (the  most  remarkable  sove- 
reign since  Charlemagne),  resolved  in  1224  to  con- 
stitute an  university  at  Naples,  which  should  embrace 
the  studies  of  the  three  faculties,  in  addition,  of 
course,  to  what  we  now  call  the  arts,  or  preliminary 
course  (the  trivium).  In  the  preamble  to  the  consti- 
tution, he  refers  to  Naples  as  having  been  for  long  the 
mother  and  home  of  studies.  The  various  schools  he 
professed  merely  to  collect  together  as  a  universitas 
studio  rum.  Frederick  desired  cufusque  professionis 
vigere  studia,  and  to  secure  this  resolved  to  appoint 
"doctores  et  magistros  in  qualibet  facultate."  In  other 
words,  Naples  was  to  have  no  longer  merely  a  loose 
aggregation  of  independent  teachers,  but  an  organized 
body  with  certain  status,  titles,  privileges,  and  im- 
munities. And  this  is  what  is  meant  by  formally 
constituting  an  "  university."  It  is  the  granting  of  a 
charter  of  incorporation  to  a  community  of  learned 
men,  securing  these  men  as  teachers  in  a  certain  posi- 
tion of  dignity  and  emolument,  and  giving  them  as  a 
corporate  body  powers  to  confer  privileges  in  connec- 
tion with  the  professions — the  public  mark  of  the 
privilege  being  called  a  licence  or  degree. 

If  any  individual  or  body  of  individuals  who  may 
have  received  the  licence  or  degree  were,  in  their  turn, 


u8      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

to  claim  a  right  to  confer  such  licences  and  titles  on 
others,  they  would   manifestly  usurp  the  function   of 
the  university — of  which  they  are  merely  individual 
members.     This  has  been  done  more  than  once,  but 
it   is   an   abnormal   act.     The   corporation,  again,  is 
represented  by  the  governing  bodies.     A  duplication 
of  a  governing  body  would  be  a  duplication  of  the 
university.     No  individual  citizens  or  body  of  indi- 
viduals can,  by  virtue  of  their  mere  citizenship,  set  up 
a  system  of  police  within  the  already  existing  muni- 
cipal  system.     A   recent   proposal    emanating   from 
Edinburgh  to  incorporate  certain  medical  graduates, 
already    recognized    as    teaching    for    licences    and 
degrees,  as   a   collegium,  is  virtually  a   proposal    to 
establish    another   university  alongside   the   existing 
one,   and    this,   too,   a     merely    medical     university. 
"The   masters  and  doctors"   of  the  said  collegium 
would  quickly  and  naturally  agitate  for  the  exclusion 
of  the  university  professors  from  the  post  of  examiners 
for   degrees,   and   the   appointment,    in    their   stead, 
of    State-examiners.      Such   proposals   may   or   may 
not   tend    to    the    maintenance    of   a   high    standard 
of    professional    qualification,   and   to    the    advance- 
ment of  science  and  learning — which  two  objects  we 
take  to  be  the  aim   of  universities.     I   do  not  here 
discuss  the  question  ;  but  I  would  merely  point  out 
that  such  claims   cannot  logically  stop  short  at  one 
faculty,  and   that    a   successful    issue    to    any  such 
movement  must  end  in  the  entire  dissolution  of  the 


NAPLES.  119 

"university/  as  hitherto  understood,  or  in  the  es- 
tablishment of  two — and  why  not  three  or  four? — 
rival  universities  in  the  same  town. 

When  Frederick  constituted  the  University  of 
Naples,  his  statutes  show  the  conditions  which  he 
and  his  ministers  then  considered  necessary  to  the 
existence  of  a  university  institution  as  distinguished 
from  a  mere  gymnasium  school,  or  from  a  voluntary 
aggregation  of  teachers  : — 

Firstly.  The  various  scattered  *■■  schools "  were 
ordered  to  be  united  as  one  universitas  studiorum. 

Secondly.  This  universitas  had  the  royal  sanction 
and  protection,  and  was  thus  constituted  (so  to  speak) 
the  intellectual  organ  of  the  State. 

Thirdly.  The  sovereign  power  called  certain 
masters  or  doctors  to  act  as  professors. 

Fourthly.  The  sovereign  power  •  guaranteed 
certain  salaries  to  some,  if  not  all,  the  recognized 
professors. 

Fifthly.  The  sovereign  power  prohibited  all  com- 
peting schools  within  the  kingdom  (exception  being, 
of  course,  made  in  favour  of  grammar  schools),  and 
imposed  penalties  on  young  men  who  ignored  their 
own  national  university  and  went  elsewhere. 

Sixthly.  The  title  of  "  professor  "  was  conferred 
by  the  sovereign  power  on  the  recognized  doctors  of 
the  "universitas  doctorum  et  scholarium"  (It  could 
not  be  assumed  by  any  dancing-master  or  quack  who 
chose,  as  in  these  days.) 


120      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UN1VERS111ES. 

Seventhly.  The  sovereign  power  granted  the 
licence  (or  degree)  through  the  High  Chancellor  or 
other  State  authority,  to  whom  the  student  carried  a 
faculty  or  university  certificate  that  he  had  been  duly 
examined  and  found  qualified. 

Eighthly.  Professors  were  further  freed  from  the 
payment  of  taxes  and  from  service  in  war,  and  had 
other  immunities.  What  these  were  it  is  difficult 
to  say.  The  words  used  were,  "  Liberi,  franchi  et 
immunes  ab  omnibus  et  singulis  solutionibus."  * 

Ninthly.  In  civil  causes  the  students  were  made 
subject  to  the  university  authorities  alone.  Lodging- 
houses  were  licensed  and  placed  under  supervision. 

Naples  was  thus  an  university  founded  by  the 
State  solely,  like  Palentia  in  Spain,  where  St. 
Dominic  studied,  and  which  was  founded  by  Alonso 
VIII.  in  1212. 

Petrus  de  Hibernia  was  called  by  the  sovereign 
to  be  the  first  professor  of  law,  and  Herasmus,  a 
Benedictine  monk,  was  invited  to  be  the  first 
"  theologian  sciential  professor."  The  course  of  study 
laid  down  was,  as  in  the  neighbouring  College  of 
Salernum,  three  years  in  arts  and  five  years  in 
medicine. 

Notwithstanding  the  position  thus  assigned  to  the 
new  university,  the  privileges  of  the  Salernitan 
College,  thirty   miles  distant,  were   preserved.     The 

*  Ackermann,  p.  84. 


NAPLES.  121 

teachers  there,  with  the  prior  at  their  head,  were 
formally  allowed  to  retain  their  right  to  grant  licences 
and  make  maglstri, — State  assessors,  or  commissioners, 
being,  however,  associated  with  the  doctors  in  the 
examinations. 

The  statutes  of  Frederick  throw  some  light  on  the 
difference  between  a  person  qualified  to  practise  (the 
proper  title  being  medicus)  and  one  qualified  to  teach 
{magister  or  doctor),  but  they  do  not  settle  the 
question.  That,  from  the  earliest  times,  the  distinc- 
tion was  not  clearly  marked,  follows  from  the  fact 
that  the  title  teacher  or  doctor,  as  well  as  the  title 
magister,  wras  assumed  by  the  licensed  practitioner,  or 
at  least  popularly  assigned  to  him.  To  teach  or  read 
(Jegere,  whence  lecture)  was  the  function  of  the 
magister  or  doctor,  and  of  no  other ;  and  in  the 
thirty-fourth  clause  of  Frederick's  statute,  section  4, 
it  is  ordered  "  that  no  one  shall  teach  at  Salernum  or 
Naples,  or  assume  the  title  of  magister  in  medicine  or 
surgery  till  carefully  examined  by  the  State  officials 
and  the  masters  of  these  arts."  As  this  is  made  the 
subject  of  a  separate  clause,  it  is  clear  that,  prior  to 
1224,  the  llcencia  medendi  was  one  thing,  and  the 
llcencla  legendi  or  docendi  another.  It  cannot  be 
doubted  that,  just  as  universities  grew  out  of  the 
specialization  of  studies,  so  "  professors,"  or  privileged 
teachers,  grew  within  the  universities  out  of  the 
specialization  of  parts  of  studies. 

Certain  statutes  were  at  the  same  time  passed  for 


122      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

the  further  regulation  of  the  medical  profession.  For 
example,  fees  for  attendance  on  patients  were  fixed 
by  the  State,  and  all  physicians  were  required  to 
promise  to  give  their  services  to  the  poor  gratuitously. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Hippocrates,  in  the  fifth 
century  before  Christ  was  wont  to  require  his  students 
to  make  a  declaration  to  serve  the  poor  without  fee. 
Frederick  further  ordained  that,  even  after  the  licence 
was  granted,  no  young  man  should  be  allowed  to 
practise  until  he  had  spent  a  year  in  the  service  of  an 
established  physician.  The  rule  already  in  opera- 
tion at  Salernum,  which  required  surgeons  to  study 
anatomy  for  a  year,  and  pass  an  examination  in 
surgery  conducted  by  the  " masters"  of  the  medical 
faculty,  was  re-enacted  at  Naples.  Physicians  were 
prohibited  from  having  any  connection  with  the  sale 
of  drugs  or  with  apothecaries'  shops.  These  were  all 
regulated  and  duly  licensed. 

We  thus  see,  in  the  case  of  Salernum  and  Naples, 
how  independent  and  voluntary  schools  gradually 
took  the  form  of  a  studium  generale  or  "  university  " 
in  the  large  sense  of  these  terms.  It  may  be  asked 
now,  "Was  the  school  at  Salernum  a  university  at 
all?"  The  answer  is  that,  prior  to  the  foundation 
of  the  University  of  Naples,  it  would  be  rightly 
called  a  studium  generale  or  universitas,  as  we  shall 
see  when  we  come  to  speak  of  the  historical  meaning 
of  this  and  other  academic  terms,  but  after  the  foun- 


NAPLES.  123 

dation  of  the  Neapolitan  University  it  would  be  more 
correctly  called  a  collegium  or  "  faculty  "  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Naples.  And  this  although  it  had  always 
a  preliminary  course  in  arts.  Even  after  Salernum 
had  a  teacher  of  law  (his  epitaph,  1340,  calls  him 
juris  civilis  professor)  it  could  not  doctorate  in  law.* 

*  In  1252  Conrad  II.,  finding  the  University  of  Naples  unsuccessful, 
or  rather  dissolved,  endeavoured  to  make  Salernum  the  studium  generale 
of  all  the  faculties.  It  was  probably  after  this  that  law  was  taught. 
But  in  1258  Manfred  restored  the  University  of  Naples,  and  Salernum 
fell  back  to  its  old  piace. 


i24      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION   AND   UNIVERSITIES. 


LECTURE  VIII. 

THE   UNIVERSITY  OF   BOLOGNA. 

In  speaking  of  mediaeval  education,  we  referred  to 
the  schools  of  law  in  Constantinople,  Rome,  and 
Berytus  {legum  nutrix).  In  554  Justinian  confirmed 
the  Roman  school,  securing  its  endowments.  These 
schools  continued  till  the  beginning  of  the  seventh 
century  at  least.  At  what  date  they  ceased  to  exist 
is  uncertain.  A  law  school  arose  at  Ravenna  after 
the  cessation  of  the  Roman  school  and  the  trans- 
ference of  the  seat  of  government.  As  Savigny 
points  out,  it  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  three  en- 
dowed public  schools  could  supply  the  wants  of 
the  Eastern  and  Western  empires.  Law  in  its  higher 
aspects  was  taught  at  these  schools  alone  :  but  at  the 
provincial  secondary  schools,  the  addition  of  law,  for 
the  instruction  and  preparation  of  ordinary  practi- 
tioners, was  not  uncommon  ;  and  this  long  after  these 
schools  had  ceased  to  have  advanced  teaching  under 
the  orator,  or  rhetorician,  or  sophist.  Pope  Leo  IX., 
in    1054,  refers   to  instruction    in    law  as  part  of    a 


THE    UNIVERSITY  OF  BOLOGNA,  125 

curriculum  of  what  in  other  respects  would  be  called 
a  "  Trivial "  or  secondary  school.  Alcuin  mentions 
jurisprudence  among  the  studies  pursued  at  the  York 
school  in  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighth  century. 
Of  Lancfranc,  afterwards  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
(died  1089),  it  is  stated  that  he  studied  at  Pavia  the 
"liberal  arts  and  jurisprudence  according  to  the 
custom  of  his  native  city,  and  soon  acquired  credit  as 
a  debater  of  law  questions."  *  There  is  also  evidence 
that  law  was  part  of  the  instruction  at  Orleans  in  the 
ninth  century.  Whether  the  school  of  law  at  Rome 
was  finally  removed  to  Ravenna  or  not,  this  final 
removal  could  not  have  taken  place,  according  to 
Savigny,  till  the  end  of  the  tenth  century.  In  964 
jadices  and  legis  doctores  are  spoken  of  as  attending 
an  ecclesiastical  synod.  Further  evidence  might  be 
adduced ;  but  what  I  have  said  suffices  to  show  that, 
while  "  high  schools  "  of  jurisprudence,  such  as  existed 
in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  had  ceased  to  exist, 
Roman  law  continued  to  be  taught  in  a  few  pro- 
vincial grammar  schools,  and  afterwards  in  some 
higher  monastery  schools. 

Throughout  the  Middle  Ages  the  Roman  law, 
that  is  to  say,  the  Code  of  Justinian,  the  Pandects, 
and  the  Institutions,  were  partially  known.  But 
such  law  as  was  taught  north  of  the  Alps  was 
represented  by  the  Theodosian  Code.  A  few  quota- 
tions from  the  Institutions  or  the  Pandects   in   the 

*  Milonis  Crispini  Vita  Lancfranci,  cap.  5,  quoted  by  Savigny. 


126      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

writings  of  a  monk  here  and  there  can  scarcely 
satisfy  us  that  these  books  were  to  be  found  in  the 
monastic  libraries.  South  of  the  Alps,  manuscripts 
were  to  be  found,  but  the  study  of  these  had  prac- 
tically ceased  before  the  time  of  Charlemagne.  I 
say  practically  ceased,  for  there  were  feeble  survivals 
of  a  restricted  law  teaching  which  recognized  the 
Justinian  books,  at  Pavia,  Ravenna,  and  Bologna. 

It  was  the  learning  and  earnest  devotion  of  one 
mind — that  of  Irnerius — to  the  civil  law  which  re- 
vived the  study  ;  but  had  not  time  and  circumstances 
favoured,  the  influence  of  Irnerius  would  have  been  as 
restricted  and  fleeting  as  that  of  Scotus  Erigena  two 
hundred  years  earlier  in  the  field  of  metaphysics. 
The  time  was,  however,  ripe,  and  a  combination  of 
circumstances  contributed  to  the  revival  of  the  teach- 
ing of  Roman  law  at  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth 
century.  The  municipalities,  very  many  of  which 
had  never  quite  lost  their  Roman  constitution,  had 
recovered,  especially  in  Lombardy,  much  of  their 
ancient  vigour,  and  consequently  demanded  a  more 
thorough  and  scientific  legal  system.  The  gradual 
amalgamation  of  the  population  in  Italy  and  beyond  / 
the  Alps  under  civil  and  ecclesiastical  influences,  the 
universal  diffusion  of  the  Latin  tongue,  and  the 
restitution  of  the  Roman  empire  under  its  new 
spiritual  form,  facilitated  the  acceptance  of  the  old 
Roman  law.  That  it  should  have  been  at  Bologna 
and  not  elsewhere  that  the  new  school  arose,  is  to 


THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  BOLOGNA.  127 

be  explained,  partly  by  the  vicinity  of  the  still  sur- 
viving law  school  at  Ravenna,  partly  by  the  rise  of 
Bologna  itself  to  be  one  of  the  most  populous  and 
wealthy  cities  of  Italy.  This  is  all  true ;  but  still 
one  man  did  the  work,  and  that  man  was  Irnerius 
(Werner,  Guarnerius,  Guernerius,  etc.).  Towards  the 
end  of  the  eleventh  century  he  seems  to  have  been 
a  teacher  in  the  Arts  school  at  Bologna.  We  soon 
find  him,  however,  professing  the  civil  law,  and  after- 
wards taking  his  part  in  important  affairs  of  state. 
As  with  the  beginnings  of  all  movements,  we  find 
legendary  explanations  of  the  causes  which  led 
Irnerius  to  the  study  and  profession  of  the  civil 
law.  It  is  said  that,  having  been  consulted  one 
day  as  to  the  meaning  of  a  Latin  legal  term,  he  was 
led,  by  his  inquiries  into  its  signification,  to  enter  into 
the  whole  subject  of  Roman  law,  and  thereupon  to 
"  professing  n  it  in  connection  with  the  school  of  arts 
where  he  was  a  master.  Another  account,  repeated 
by  Crevier,  is  that  a  manuscript  of  the  Pandects  of 
Justinian  was  discovered  at  the  taking  of  Amalfi,  and 
was  sent  to  Irnerius  to  edit,  he  having  already  some 
reputation  as  a  causidicus ;  and  that,  having  accom- 
plished this  task,  he  thereafter  devoted  his  life  to 
the  exposition  of  the  whole  civil  law  as  contained  in 
the  Codex,  the  Institutions,  Pandects,  etc. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  accept  either  of  these  fables. 
The   important   fact   is,   that    Irnerius   was   publicly 

teaching  the  civil  law  to  all  who  chose  to  study  it  in 
11 


128      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

the  first  years  of  the  twelfth  century.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  this  jurist  rediscovered  Roman  law 
for  Europe.  It  would  be  difficult  to  over-estimate  the 
effects  of  his  labours  on  the  progress  of  civilization. 
The  probable  date  of  his  birth  was  somewhere  about 
the  year  1070,  and  he  died  somewhere  about  1 138, 
after  having  attained  great  distinction  both  as  a  jurist 
and  a  judge. 

To  the  school  of  law  founded  by  Irnerius  there 
flocked  great  numbers  of  youths,  some  of  whom  were 
preparing  for  ecclesiastical  work,  some  for  the  work  of 
lay  practitioners  or  the  secular  service  of  the  States 
to  which  they  belonged.  The  lectures  were  public, 
and  not  in  any  way  connected  with  a  monastic 
institution.  From  Bologna  the  civil  law  travelled  to 
many  Italian  towns,  as  well  as  to  Angers  and  Orleans. 

Here,  again,  we  find  confirmation  of  the  view 
which  we  have  taken  of  the  causes  which  led  to  the 
rise  of  universities,  in  so  far  as  these  are  to  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  ordinary  monastic  gymnasia  and 
cathedral  schools.  One  Italian  writer  speaks  of  the 
school  of  Bologna  as  an  archigymnasium.  But  it  was 
an  archigymnasium  differentiated  from  an  ordinary 
arts  gymnasium,  not  by  the  fact  that  it  carried  farther 
the  general  Arts  studies  of  the  gymnasium,  which 
there  is  no  evidence  that  it  did,  but  rather  by  the 
fact  that  it  specialized  a.  department  of  study,  and 
professed  to  teach  it  in  all  its  extent  to  youths  beyond 
the  Arts  stage  of  progress.     In  Salernum,  as  we  said, 


THE    UNIVERSITY  OF  BOLOGNA.  129 

this  specialization  was  due  to  the  intellectual  activity 
of  a  few  individuals,  and  to  the  accumulation  of  the 
stock  of  Greek  and  Arabic  medical  lore,  which 
made  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  whole  field  im- 
possible for  any  one  save  a  specialist.  So  now,  in 
Bologna,  we  see  a  specialization  of  the  study  of  civil 
law — to  which  was  soon  added  the  canon  law — under 
the  influence  of  a  single  mind.  As  the  Salernitan,  so 
the  new  Bononian  university  school,  was  not  founded, 
but  grew  out  of  small  beginnings,  under  the  general 
intellectual  impulse  of  the  time.  Neither  the  one 
centre  of  learning  nor  the  other  was  called  an 
"  university "  in  our  modern  sense,  but  constantly  a 
"  universitas "  in  the  then  sense  of  a  "  community.'' 
The  institution  was  called  a  schola  or  studiutn,  or, 
more  generally  (but  only  after  a  considerable  period), 
a  studium  publicum  or  generale,  i.e.  a  school  open  to 
all,  free  from  the  conditions  of  monastic  vows  or 
monastic  discipline  in  any  form,  and  where  the  curri- 
culum of  arts  was  taught  as  well  as  the  specialized 
study  of  the  universitas.* 

As  in  many  other  Mediterranean  towns,  so  in 
Bologna,  the  old  Roman  school  of  Arts,  which  reached 
its  highest  ideal  conception  under  Quintilian,  seems 
never  to  have  quite  died  out.  It  survived  under 
Christian  influences.  There  was  such  a  school  in 
450  A.D.     Charlemagne  and  his  grandson  Lothair  did 

*  But  the  arts  were  not  at  first  drawn  into  the  university  system t 
except  at  Paris  and  in  England. 


130      MEDIALVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES 

much  in  the  ninth  century,  as  I  have  pointed  out 
to  stimulate  this  and  other  Italian  institutions,  and 
here,  in  the  eleventh  century,  we  find  Irnerius  at  first 
teaching  the  ordinary  curriculum  of  the  trivium  and 
quadrivium.*  Bologna  had  shortly  before  this  become 
a  free  town,  and  we  cannot  doubt  that  this  accession 
of  dignity,  and  the  introduction  of  self-government, 
would  give  a  fresh  impulse  to  all  the  civic  institutions, 
including  schools. 

The  first  formal  recognition  of  the  universitas  of 
Bologna  was  by  Frederick  1.,  in  1 1 58,  when  the  lead- 
ing juridical  doctors  were  Bulgarus,  Jacob,  Martin,  and 
Hugo.  This  "privilege,"  however,  was  based  on  the 
assumption  that  the  school  was  already  a  flourishing 
one,  with  recognized  usages,  and  it  directed  itself 
mainly  to  securing  protection  for  travelling  students 
and  resident  aliens,  giving  them  the  right  of  being 
judged  by  their  own  dominus  or  magister,  or  by  the 
bishop.  This  right  extended  to  criminal  as  well  as 
civil  cases,  and  long  existed.  It  was  only  after  this 
date  that  Bologna  was  a  formally  privileged  studium. 

The  university  statutes  of  1254  were  formally 
confirmed  by  the  then  pope ;  but  the  action  of  Pope 
Honorius  III.,  in  12 16,  to  which  we  shall  have  imme- 
diately to  refer,  was  itself  as  valid  as  a  formal  con- 
firmation of  consuetudinary  laws. 

Irnerius  had  distinguished  pupils,  who,  as  doctors 
of  law,  maintained  the  reputation  of  the  school  after 

*  There  is  no  evidence  that  this  was  a  cathvdral  school 


THE   UMVERS1TY  OF  BOLOGNA.  131 

his  death.  It  became  known  as  the  "  Mother  of 
Laws,"  and  attracted  ever-increasing  numbers  from 
all  Europe.  When  Frederick  II.  established  the 
University  of  Naples  in  1224,  he  did  so  partly,  as 
he  himself  states,  to  bring  the  best  teaching  within 
reach  of  the  youth  of  Southern  Italy,  and  to  make 
it  unnecessary  for  them  to  travel  to  Bologna.  He 
was  also  influenced  by  the  disputes  which  had  already 
arisen  between  town  and  gown  in  Bologna,  and  which 
gave  rise  to  frequent  breaches  of  the  law. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  in  the 
time  of  the  celebrated  jurist  Azo,  there  were,  it  is 
said,  already  10,000  students  at  Bologna,  and  in  the 
time  of  Roger  Bacon  there  were  20,000.  So  large  a 
body  of  youth,  and  among  them  hundreds  of  mature 
men,  collected  in  one  small  town  soon  felt  the  ne- 
cessity of  organization,  with  a  view  to  mutual  help 
and  to  common  protection  against  civic  interference. 
They  had  not  at  first,  let  it  be  remembered,  the 
defence  which  the  monastic  and  conventual  estab- 
lishments had  always  found  in  the  all-powerful  pro- 
tection of  their  own  recognized  constitutions  and 
the  supreme  protection  of  the  pope.  Here,  in  fact, 
was  a  new  kind  of  community  altogether, — new 
in  the  history  of  Christendom  at  least, — essentially 
lay  in  its  characteristics,  and  yet  so  far  connected 
with  the  monkish  orders  that  it  had  intellectual  and 
moral  aims.  Already  the  example  of  organizations 
within  the  existing  municipal  organizations  was  before 


132     MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

them.  The  trade  guilds  and  the  order  of  chivalry 
were  within  the  knowledge  of  all.  Accordingly 
students  from  the  same  part  of  the  world  naturally 
imitated  these  institutions  and  coalesced  into  groups 
of  communities,  loosely  held  together,  perhaps,  but 
yet  recognizing  that  they  had  common  interests. 
Thus  arose  the  "  nations,"  so  famous  in  all  university 
history,  to  one  or  other  of  which  all  students  belonged. 
They  constituted  free  self-governing  societies  within 
the  universitas.* 

These  "  nations  "  existed  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
twelfth  century,  if  not  earlier.  Through  their  con- 
siliarii  (or  procurators,  as  they  were  called  in  Paris) 
they  gradually  acquired  certain  student  privileges, 
among  which  the  most  important  was  the  right,  for- 
mally conceded  by  Frederick  I.,  of  being  judged  by  the 
university  authorities,  and  this  even  in  criminal  cases. 

That  there  was  a  tendency  to  abuse  these  privileges, 
especially  in  the  democratic  University  of  Bologna, 
is  certain.  The  civic  power  granted  or  acquiesced  in 
the  assumption  of  many  rights,  and  condoned  even 
many  licences,  because  they  were  afraid  to  lose  the 
students.  There  were  no  university  buildings  of  any 
importance  :  the  doctors  taught  in  their  own  houses 
or  in  hired  apartments  ;  and  it  would  have  been  an 
easy  thing  for  the  whole  university  to  migrate,  and 
desert  the  town,  which  owed  much  of  its  prosperity 

*  The  students  who  belonged  to  the  town  of  Bologna   were   not 
included  in  the  "  nations." 


THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  BOLOGNA.  133 

to  them  ;  and  this  threat,  indeed,  was  often  held 
over  magistrates.  At  the  same  time  it  lay  with  the 
doctors  rather  than  the  pupils  to  migrate,  and  this 
gave  additional  authority  to  the  doctors,  and  enabled 
them  to  keep  the  civic  magistracy  in  awe  of  their 
power ;  indeed,  they  feared  them  so  much  that  they 
ultimately  demanded  from  them  an  oath,  on  their 
entering  office,  that  they  would  not  teach  elsewhere. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  students,  when  other  schools 
arose,  could  keep  the  doctors  in  subjection  by 
threatening  to  leave  in  a  body  and  study  elsewhere. 

It  was  not  while  the  "  nations "  were  numerous 
and  divided  that  they  were  a  source  of  danger  to  the 
discipline  of  the  university  and  the  supremacy  of  the 
civic  power.  But  when  they  began  to  combine  and 
to  pass  their  own  laws,  and  look  to  a  rector  elected  by 
themselves  for  guidance  and  protection;  and  especially 
when  this  tendency  to  union  with  a  view  to  strength 
resulted  in  the  combination  of  the  various  bodies  into 
two, — universitas  citramontanorum  and  universitas 
ultramontanorum  (12 10-1220), — the  doctors,  in  whom 
the  sovereign  authority  lay,  and  who  exercised  it  in 
harmony  with  the  civil  power,  would  naturally  feel 
anxious.  The  universitas  ultramontanorum  was  com- 
posed of  eighteen  nations,  the  universitas  citramonta- 
norum of  seventeen.  Each  universitas  elected  its  own 
rector  and  other  university  authorities.*    Each  of  these 

*  It  is  not  till  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  that  we  find 
only  one  rector. 


134      MED1MVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

united  bodies  practically  constituted  themselves  into 
two  powerful  corporations  wTithin  the  university.  The 
students  had  now  virtually  superseded  the  doctors  in 
the  government. 

Accordingly,  at  the  instigation  of  the  latter,  the 
magistrates  of  Bologna  endeavoured  by  a  civil  enact- 
ment to  restrict  the  student  organizations.  Hence 
many  strifes  ;  and  it  is  to  this  kind  of  antagonism 
between  civic  authorities  and  university  authorities, 
and  the  difficulties  arising  out  of  the  conflicting 
municipal  and  university  jurisdictions,  that  we  owe 
the  long  series  of  town-and-gown  riots  which  once 
had  a  meaning,  but  which  are  now  mere  ghostly 
survivals  of  defunct  realities.  The  students,  being 
hard  pressed  by  the  doctors  of  civil  law  and  magis- 
trates combined,  finally  resolved  to  appeal  to  the 
pope,  who  would  be  (as  may  be  supposed)  very  ready 
to  interfere,  as  he  thereby  had  his  own  supreme  au- 
thority over  the  rising  university  school  acknowledged. 
The  students  boldly  alleged  that  their  customary 
rights  were  being  interfered  with,  and  that  the 
magistrates,  and  not  they,  were  infringing  the  law. 
Pope  Honorius  III.  (died  1216),  a  man  reputed  learned 
and  pious,  took  the  part  of  the  students,  and  ordered 
the  magistracy  of  Bologna  to  respect  their  rights.  In 
the  pope's  epistle,  he  says  that  the  new  municipal 
statutes  were  unjust  and  in  the  teeth  of  scholastic 
liberty,  and  of  an  ancient  freedom  up  to  that  time 


THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  BOLOGNA.  135 

exercised.*  Rights  and  privileges,  and  a  certain 
constitutional  organization,  had  been  simply  assumed 
by  the  rising  school,  and  formally  recognized  by 
Frederick  I. ;  the  civic  power  had  either  aided  and 
abetted  the  organizations  in  their  claims,  or  acquiesced 
in  their  acts.     It  was  now  too  late  to  interfere. 

This  gradual  assumption  of  rights  has  to  be 
specially  noted  in  connection  with  the  rise  of  all 
universities  prior  to  that  of  Naples  (1224).  Padua 
was  so  destitute  of  civil  or  papal  charters,  that  the 
question  at  one  time  arose  whether  it  was  entitled 
to  exercise  the  university  powers  which  it  assumed, 
and  distinguished  jurists  decided  that  long  usage  was 
as  good  a  title  as  any  papal  bull  or  royal  charter,  if 
not,  indeed,  a  better  title.  Nothing,  indeed,  can  more 
strikingly  illustrate  the  true  primary  character  of  a 
university,  as  simply  a  voluntary  association  of 
teachers  (Doctores,  Magistri)  and  learners  usurping 
to  themselves  certain  rights  and  privileges,  than  the 
origin  of  Padua.  The  disputes  at  Bologna  caused  a 
secession  which  established  itself  in  Padua,  and  of  its 
own  motion  called  itself  the  studium  generate  of 
Padua,  and  began  to  discharge  the  duties  and  exer- 
cise the  rights  of  such  a  body.  This  was  in  1222. 
Vicenza  arose  in  a  similar  way  in  1204.  It  was  not 
till   1228  A.D.  that    Padua   had    any  formal  recogni- 

*  "Statuta.  .  .  suntiniqua  et  roanifeste  obviant  scholastics  libertati 
.  .  .  contra  libertatem  hactenus  habitam,"  etc 


136       MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

tion,  and  it  even  seems  to  be  doubtful  if  we  can 
date  this  before  the  "letters"  of  Urban  IV.,  thirty 
years  later. 

It  was  not  till  1 1 58,  as  I  have  already  stated, 
that  Bologna  was  formally  recognized,  and  this  by 
letters  of  privilege  issued  by  Frederick  I.  These 
letters  of  privilege,  I  have  also  pointed  out,  assumed 
already  existing  usages.  One  can  easily  understand 
that,  where  local  questions  as  to  the  powers  of  the 
university  body  arose,  the  authorities  would  take 
steps  to  get  something  of  the  nature  of  statutory  defi- 
nition from  either  pope  or  prince,  as  Bologna  after- 
wards did  in  1254.  This  was  manifestly  the  case 
again  and  again  with  Paris,  which,  as  the  centre  of 
theological  teaching,  bore  always  a  closer  relation  to 
the  pope  than  the  Italian  schools,  and  was  fondly 
called  the  Mother  of  Universities  and  the  Sinai  of  the 
Middle  Ages. 

The  papal  recognition  was  always  of  great  im- 
portance, if  not  essential,  to  universities.  It  brought 
the  power  of  the  Church,  then  dominating  all  civil 
powers,  to  the  help  of  the  young  communities  as 
schools  of  learning,  and  gave  universal  European 
validity  to  the  degrees  which  the  protected  university 
might  confer,  and  not  merely  to  the  doctorship,  as  has 
been  sometimes  said.  A  licentia  docendi  in  a  papal 
university,  whether  it  took  the  form  of  a  mastership 
of  arts,  as  in  Paris,  or  of  a  doctorship,  as  in  Italy, 
entitled  the  holder  to  teach  at  any  university  seat  in 


THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  BOLOGNA.  137 

Christendom.  The  popes  had  no  jealousy  of  the 
universities.  On  the  contrary,  they  hastened  to  recog- 
nize them.  It  may  be  that  they  astutely  saw  that, 
by  conferring  privileges,  they  indirectly  acquired 
rights  over  both  teachers  and  students. 

But,  the  rescripts  proceeding  from  the  papal  chair 
in  favour  of  universities  were  not,  in  the  case  of  the 
earliest  universities,  bulls  or  charters  of  foundation, 
but  letters  of  privilege  issued  simply  for  the  purpose 
of  strengthening  the  infant  communities.  Though 
Bologna,  Padua,  and  Paris,  Oxford  and  Cambridge, 
received  many  such  letters,  none  of  these  studia 
was  formally  constituted  an  university  by  the  pope. 
It  is  only  after  the  erection  of  the  University  of 
Naples  by  Frederick  II.  in  1224  that  we  find  the 
pope  formally  instituting  universities ;  and  this  right 
continued  to  be  exercised  by  him  till  the  Reformation, 
generally  in  conjunction  with  the  civil  power. 

As  to  the  governing  authority :  At  Bologna,  a 
rector,  elected  by  the  outgoing  rector,  the  consiliarii, 
and  the  general  body  of  students,  held  office  for  one 
year,  and  wielded  great  power  during  his  term.  No 
member  of  a  monastic  order  could  hold  the  rector- 
ship. The  teaching  doctors  or  professors,  no  less 
than  the  students,  were  subject  to  the  rectors.  A 
professor  could  not  leave  his  duties  for  a  few  days 
without  obtaining  formal  permission  from  him,  and 
if  the  term  of  absence  exceeded  eight  days,  he  had  to 
get  permission  from  the  whole  university.     So  entirely 


138      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

were  the  professors  kept  subject  to  the  whole  uni- 
versity, that  they  were  disqualified  for  university 
official  positions.  Their  statutory  position  and  rights 
were  little  better  than  those  of  the  students.  But  in 
their  capacity  of  scholars  or  students  the  professors 
exercised  power  along  with  those  they  taught.  It 
was  merely  qua,  professors  that  they  had  no  ad- 
ditional prerogatives.  The  councillors  (consiliarii) 
whom  I  have  named  above,  sat  with  each  rector. 
They  represented  the  separate  nations,  and  were 
elected  by  them.  There  were,  accordingly,  eighteen 
councillors  sitting  with  the  rector  of  the  Ultramontani, 
and  seventeen  with  the  rector  of  the  Citramontani. 
The  only  other  officers  were  a  syndic,  who  represented 
both  universitates  before  other  courts,  a  notary,  a 
treasurer,  and  two  beadles. 

The  doctors  held  in  their  hands,  however,  the 
management  of  the  schools  and  of  promotions.  In 
the  latter  half  of  the  thirteenth  century,  also,  they 
formed  themselves  into  colleges,  and  so  strengthened 
their  position  relatively  to  the  universitas.  The  term 
"  doctor,"  I  need  scarcely  repeat,  was  simply  equiva- 
lent to  "  master." 

The  system  of  lectures,  repetitions,  and  disputa- 
tions seems  to  have  been  very  strictly  organized. 

For  the  degree  of  doctor  there  were  two  examina- 
tions, a  private  and  a  public,  and  the  degree  was 
conferred  in  the  cathedral  by  the  archdeacon.  The 
private  examination  gave  the  title  of  licentiate — the 


THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  BOLOGNA.  139 

licencia  docendi ;  but  only  after  the  public  examina- 
tion was  the  title  of  doctor  conferred  (this,  after  a 
certain  date,  by  the  archdeacon  who  was  Cancellarius). 
As  I  shall  recur  to  the  graduation  system  in  a  future 
lecture,  this  brief  statement  will  suffice  here. 

The  canon  law,  or  Decretum,  was  added  to  the 
Bononian  studies  shortly  before  the  recognition  of 
Frederick  I.  Schools  of  arts  and  medicine,  as  part  of 
the  academic  organization,  did  not  exist  till  1 3 16; 
but  for  a  considerable  period  before  this,  both  arts 
and  medical  professors  taught  in  connection  with 
the  university,  but  formed  no  part  of  its  constitution. 
The  school  of  theology  was  not  added  till  1360  by 
Innocent  VI.*  These  subjects,  however,  did  not 
flourish  in  Italy,  the  home  of  jurisprudence.  Dante 
complains  of  the  exclusive  academic  devotion  to  law. 
But  the  truth  is,  legal  studies  were  the  best  passport 
to  high  office  and  profitable  employment. 

The  Bolognese,  notwithstanding  numerous  con- 
tests with  the  academical  authorities,  were  proud  of 
their  university.  Both  scholars  and  teachers  were  held 
in  respect,  and  exempted  from  military  service,  and 
from  all  taxes  and  imposts  whatsoever.  The  municipal 
authorities  also  united  with  the  university  authorities 
in  protecting  the  students  from  the  overcharges  of 
lodging-house  keepers.  The  notary  of  the  university 
kept  a  list  of  approved  lodgings,  and  the  civic  autho- 
rities fixed  the  price  of  them. 

*  Savigny,  xxi.  67. 


J 40       MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

Towards  the  latter  half  of  the  fourteenth  century 
we  find  Bologna  fully  developed.  There  were  then 
four  u  universitates  " — the  two  juristic  formerly  men- 
tioned, the  artist  and  medical  as  one,  and  the  theo- 
logical, but  all  these  parts  of  one  studium  generale. 
The  theological  university  was  constituted  on  the 
model  of  Paris,  and  was  a  tmiversitas  magistrorum 
only,  not  scholar ium.  The  theological  students,  when 
they  sought  to  share  in  the  general  privileges  of  the 
university,  did  so  as  " artists"  or  arts  students.*  It 
cannot  escape  the  notice  of  the  reader  that  in  these 
Bononian  "universitates,"  as  finally  constituted,  we 
simply  have  what  we  now  call  "  faculties."  In  1338 
there  were  twenty-seven  professors  of  civil  law,  twelve 
of  canon  law,  fourteen  of  medicine,  fifteen  of  arts, 
i.e.  grammarians  and  teachers  of  the  notarial  art. 

*  A   student  in  the  theological  faculty  would  also  be  a   magistei 
artium,  and  so  an  artist. 


V 


LECTURE   IX. 

UNIVERSITY   OF   PARIS. 


As  at  Bologna  and  Salernum,  there  was  at  Paris  a 
well-known  Arts  school,  that  of  Notre  Dame,  before 
the  rise  of  an  university.  At  the  two  former  I  con- 
sider that  the  universities  were  offshoots  of  the 
schools  ;  but  at  Paris  the  universitas  arose  directly 
out  of  the  Arts  school,  and  from  the  first  enjoyed 
such  privileges  as  were  possessed  by  the  claustral  or 
cathedral  school.  It  does  not  clearly  appear  to  what 
extent  the  suburban  schools  of  St.  Genevieve  and 
St.  Victor  contributed  to  the  formation  of  the  univer- 
sitas, but  they  could  not  but  have  had  great  influence. 
In  the  Paris  school,  in  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh 
century,  a  learned  monk,  William  of  Champeaux, 
taught  theology.  A  still  more  famous  theological 
school,  however,  existed  at  Bee,  in  Normandy,  pre- 
sided over  by  Lancfranc,  afterwards  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury ;  while  Rheims  and  Chartres  were  also 
important  centres  of  instruction.  It  was  at  Bee, 
not  Paris,  that  Anselm  studied  in    1060,  succeeding 


142      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVRESIT1ES. 

Lancfranc  as  head  of  that  monastery  and  school,  and 
subsequently  following  him  as  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, to  which  primacy  he  was  appointed  in  1093. 
That  the  intellect  of  the  Church  was  deeply  stirred 
at  this  time  is  evident  from  the  reception  accorded 
to  Anselm's  writings.  He  endeavoured,  in  full  sub- 
mission to  the  faith,  to  rationalize  Christian  doctrine, 
and  was  himself  of  so  ardent  a  nature  that  it  is 
highly  probable  that  we  should  have  had  to  name 
him  and  not  Abelard  as  giving  the  first  intellectual 
impulse  which  initiated  the  University  of  Paris,  had 
he  not  been  preoccupied  by  his  work  at  Bee  and 
Canterbury. 

When  Anselm  became  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
Abelard  was  only  fourteen  years  old.  This  remark- 
able man  sacrificed  high  prospects  in  a  secular  career 
in  order  to  devote  himself  to  theology  and  philosophy, 
preferring,  as  he  said,  to  enrol  himself  under  the 
standard  of  Minerva  rather  than  that  of  Mars.  A  few 
years  before  this  ardent  and  ambitious  youth  betook 
himself  to  study,  John  Roscelin,  a  native  of  Brittany 
and  Canon  of  Compiegne,  had  begun  to  speculate  on 
the  nature  of  abstract  concepts  and  terms,  and  had 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  doctrine  of  Nominalism.* 
Abelard  became  a  pupil  and  a  promulgator  of  his 
philosophy.  From  Roscelin  and  Anselm,  Abelard 
drew  his  first  inspiration.     William    of   Champeaux, 

*  The   discussions   on   uni versa! s   is   said   to   have   started  from  a 
passage  in  Porphyry's  "Isagoge,"  a  book  studied  in  the  monasteries. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS.  143 

pupil  of  Anselm,  surnamed  the  "Pillar  of  Doctors," 
was  at  this  time  at  the  head  of  the  Episcopal  (or 
Cloister)  School  of  Paris,  where  the  usual  course  in 
arts  (both  trivium  and  quadriviimi)  was  taught.  This 
school  was  then  the  most  famous  in  Europe,  and  had 
been  raised  under  William  to  a  higher  eminence  than 
it  had  ever  before  held.  In  truth,  it  so  entirely  out- 
stripped its  rivals  under  his  presidency,  that  we  might 
almost  regard  him  as  the  founder  of  the  university  as 
a  specialized  school. 

Abelard  could  not  have  been  more  than  a  boy 
when  he  came  to  Paris  to  pursue  his  studies  there. 
For,  as  early  as  1102,  when  he  was  only  twenty-three 
years  of  age,  we  find  that,  after  having  questioned  the 
doctrines  of  his  master,  and  incurred  his  serious  dis- 
pleasure by  his  independence  of  opinion,  and  doubtless 
also  by  the  youthful  sauciness  of  his  argumentation 
he  opened  a  school  of  dialectic  of  his  own  at  Melun. 
In  1 1 13  we  find  him,  after  many  successes  and  re- 
verses, teaching  theology  as  well  as  dialectic,  as  the 
head  of  the  Paris  school,  William  of  Champeaux 
having  been  meanwhile  promoted  to  the  bishopric 
of  Chalons-sur-Marne. 

It  would  be  out  of  place  here  to  follow  the  roman- 
tic and  tragic  story  of  Abelard.  Our  concern  is 
simply  with  his  relations  to  the  intellectual  move- 
ments of  Europe,  and  the  universities  which  grew  out 
of  them.  Having  had  to  retire  from  the  Paris  school 
owing  to  the  scandal  which  arose  out  of  the  mis- 
12 


144      MED1MVAL   EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

fortunes  and  indiscretions  of  his  career,  he  retired  into 
the   monastic  life ;  but  he   afterwards   reopened   his 
school   at  St.  Denis,  where   he  had  become  a  Bene- 
dictine monk  at  the  same  time  that  Heloi'se  took  the 
veil  at  Argenteuil.     He  was  now  thirty-six  or  thirty- 
seven  years  of  age.     It  was  only  at  the  urgent  solici- 
tation of  crowds  of  students  that  he  consented  again 
to  teach.     He  taught  in  a  hospitium  attached  to  the 
monastery,  and  it  is  said  that  his  students  numbered 
at  one  time  three  thousand,  and  included  youths  from 
all  parts  of  Europe.     The  jealousy  of  the  doctors  of 
the  Paris  school,  and  the  suspicions  of  heresy  under 
which  he  fell,  ultimately  drove  him  to  take  refuge  in 
Champagne,  where  he  built  a  hut  in  a  desert  place, 
six  miles  from  Nogent-sur-Seine,  and  called  it  Para- 
clete, or  "  The  Consolation."     But  he  was  not  allowed 
to    remain    and    nurse   his    melancholy   in    solitude. 
Students  again  began  to  crowd  round  him,  and,  erect- 
ing  tents   and    mud  huts  covered  with  thatch,  they 
prosecuted    their    studies    in    the   wilds,   contenting 
themselves  with  the  simplest  rustic  fare.     With  their 
own   hands,    it   is   said,  they  rebuilt  with  stone   the 
oratory  which  he  had  himself  built  with   reeds   and 
thatch.     Thus   was   what   might   quite    correctly   be 
called  the  University  of  Paris  now  transferred  from 
St.  Denis  to  the  forests  of  France.     From  this  retreat 
Abelard  had,  however,  again  to  seek  safety  in  flight. 
The    doctors    of  the  Church,  with    St.  Norbert  and 
St.  Bernard  at  their  head,  did  not  cease  to  denounce 


UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS.  145 

him  to  the  pope  as  a  heretic.  "The  human  mind," 
writes  St.  Bernard  to  the  pope,  "usurps  everything, 
leaves  nothing  to  faith."  Here  we  see  for  the  first 
time,  and  this  in  France,  the  intimate  connection  of 
the  university  movement  with  freedom  of  inquiry.  It 
is,  in  truth,  to  the  free  activity  of  the  human  mind  in 
dealing  with  questions  of  abstract  philosophy  and 
theology,  that  we  are  indebted  primarily  for  the  scien- 
tific spirit.  It  was  not  the  study  of  physical  science 
which,  either  in  the  eleventh  or  twelfth,  or  afterwards 
in  the  fifteenth  century,  gained  for  mankind  liberty  of 
thought.  This  was  the  work  of  the  philosopher  and 
the  man  of  letters.  Physical  science  entered  into  the 
possession  of  a  kingdom  of  liberty  already  conquered. 
Abelard,  after  having  been  twice  condemned  by 
Church  councils,  died  in  1 142  in  the  Abbey  of  Clugni.* 
But  the  impulse  he  had  given  to  philosophic  disputa- 
tion remained,  and  Paris,  under  his  pupils  and  their 
rivals,  became  the  centre  of  a  higher  specialized  school 
of  philosophy  and  theology,  to  which  students  con- 
tinued to  flock  from  all  parts  of  Europe.  In  this  way 
the  University  of  Paris,  as  distinguished  from  the  Arts 
school,  began.  The  theory  of  the  rise  of  universities, 
which  alone  seems  to  me  to  interpret  historical  facts 
in  the  case  of  Salernum  and  Bologna,  is  thus,  in  the 
case  of  Paris,  further  confirmed.  For  in  what  respect 
did  the  school  of  Abelard  differ  from  that  of  William 

*  Strictly  speaking,    in   a   dependence   of  this   abbey   situated   at 
Chalons,  to  which  he  had  been  sent  for  the  bettering  of  his  health. 


146      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

of  Champeaux,  which  was  a  famous  school  of  arts, 
including  theology?  Only  in  this — that  it  was  a 
specialized  school  of  theology  and  its  handmaid  phi- 
losophy, intended  for  those  who  desired  to  continue 
their  studies  beyond  the  school  age,  open  to  all,  and 
independent  of  monastic  or  canonical  obligations — a 
studium  generale.  Hence  numerous  masters  to  meet 
the  demand.  As  their  number  increased,  organization 
became  necessary. 

Note  also  that  in  the  eleventh  century  it  became 
the  custom  to  require  priests  to  learn  by  heart  the 
decrees  of  councils  and  other  Church  laws.  This  body 
of  ecclesiastical  legislation,  known  as  the  Body  of  the 
Canon  Law  or  the  Decretum,  had  reached  such  pro- 
portions and  complexity  as  to  demand  that  specialized 
treatment  which  it  now  received  at  Paris  alongside  of 
theology. 

Having  now  indicated  generally  the  origin  of  the 
Paris  University  as  an  intellectual  movement,  let  us 
look  for  a  moment  at  its  historical  antecedents. 

Although  I  hold  that  Abelard  was  to  Paris  what 
Constantinus  was  to  Salernum,  and  Irnerius  to  Bo- 
logna, I  am  well  aware  that,  prior  to  the  appearance 
of  Abelard  on  the  scene,  the  Paris  school  had  been  for 
long  a  much-frequented  and  active  centre  of  learn- 
ing,* and,  indeed,  had  never  lost  the  impulse  given  to  it 

*  Whether  this  centre  was  a  monastery  school  or  cathedral  school 
(or  a  palatine  school,  as  Bulaeus  thinks,  and  as  Crevier  is  disposed 
to  think)  matters  little.    It  was  the  recognized  arts  school  of  Paris,  and, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS.  147 

by  the  Carol  ingian  revival.  A  monk  of  Auxerre, 
the  well-known  Remi,  had  lectured  publicly  at  Paris 
on  dialectic  and  music  about  900  A.D.*  He  died 
about  908.  That  he  had  successors  there  can  be  no 
doubt,  for  in  960  A.D.,  Abbon,  subsequently  Abbot 
of  Fleuri,  after  having  directed  the  studies  of  his 
monastery  for  some  years,  betook  himself  to  Paris 
to  extend  his  own  knowledge.  In  990  Bulaeus  (i.  p. 
313)  says  that  a  canon  of  Liege,  named  Hubold,  had 
a  large  school  at  Paris  in  connection  with  the  chapter 
of  St.  Genevieve.  Crevier  also  concurs.-  Public 
lectures  were  delivered  by  Lambert  in  1022,  and  he 
acquired  wealth  by  his  teaching.  In  the  middle  of 
the  same  century  a  Parisian,  named  Drogon,  lectured. 
The  Pole  St.  Stanislas,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Cracovia, 
came  to  Paris  about  this  time  to  complete  his  studies. 
Other  men,  afterwards  holding  high  offices  in  the 
Church,  resorted  to  Paris  for  instruction  towards  the 
end  of  the  eleventh  century;  and  in  1053  it  is  stated 
that  Valram,  who  had  already  studied  at  Bee  under 
Lancfranc,  came  to  Paris  to  lecture.  Manegolde,  a 
German,  lectured  in  various  towns  of  France,  and 
ultimately  at  Paris  in  1082.  Crevier  relates  that  this 
Manegolde  was  married  to  a  cultivated  wife,  and  that 
his  daughters  afterwards  opened  a  school  in  Paris  for 
girls — an  interesting  fact  in  the  history  of  education. 

as  closely  connected  with  the  cathedral  of  Notre  Dame,  was  most 
probably  a  cathedral  school  with  some  monastic  ties. 

*  Acta  Sane.  Ord.  Ben.,  torn.  vii.  p.  151.     Also  Crevier,  i.  p.  67, 
quoted  by  Viriville. 


148      MEDIMVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

One  of  Manegolde's  pupils  was  the  celebrated  William 
of  Champeaux,  who,  Villivry  says,  succeeded  him  as 
master  of  the  Paris  school.  It  is  in  connection  with 
the  above  facts  *  that  the  question  of  the  precise 
point  at  which  the  school  of  arts  grew  into  an  uni- 
versity becomes  a  question  as  interesting  as  it  is  diffi- 
cult. This  is  certain,  that  William  of  Champeaux 
became  master  of  the  cathedral  school,  and  lectured 
specially  and  publicly,  like  his  predecessors,  on  the- 
ology, and  that  under  him  Paris  outstripped  all  its 
rivals,  and  became  the  recognized  European  centre 
of  theological  instruction.  If  further  evidence  be 
needed  as  to  the  pre-eminence  of  Paris  as  a  central 
school  in  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century,  it  will  be 
found  in  a  letter  of  Anselm's,  written  about  1090, 
when  he  was  still  Abbot  of  Bee.  In  this  letter  he  refers 
to  one  of  his  monks — "  qui  propter  scholas  moratur 
apud  Parisium  et  conversatur  in  monasterio  S. 
Magical''  f 

The  specialized  study  of  theology  and  canon  law, 
wherever  it  existed,  attracted  students  who  had  com- 
pleted their  monastery  or  cathedral  course  in  arts, 
or  as  much  of  it  as  they  meant  to  take,  and  who 
intended  to  continue  in  the  service  of  the  Church. 
This  habit  of  seeking  instruction  at  learned  centres 
existed,  as  I  have  shown,  throughout   the  eleventh 

*  For  which  I  do  not  cite  authorities,  because  the  evidence  is  so 
ample.  But  in  what  sense  Champeaux  succeeded  Manegolde  is  an  open 
question. 

t  Quoted  by  Mabillon,  in  "  De  Studiis  Monasticis,"  pt.  i.  c.  12. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS  149 

century,  and,  indeed,  to  some  extent  in  the  tenth. 
Accordingly,  many  other  centres  of  study  than  Paris, 
Bologna,  and  Salernum  might  have  become  the  first 
universities,  had  the  accidents  of  time  and  place 
favoured  them.  Bee  in  Normandy,  for  example,  was 
a  greater  theological  school  in  the  beginning  of  the 
eleventh  century  than  either  Paris  or  Rome ;  and  in 
the  time  of  Lancfranc  it  was  much  frequented.  In 
the  prolegomena  to  a  mystical  explanation  of  the 
Song  of  Solomon  by  Wiliramus  there  occurs  the 
following  passage  :  "  Unum  in  Francia  comperi  Lanc- 
francum  nomine,  autem  maxime  valentem  in  dia- 
lectic^ nunc  ad  ecclesiastica  se  contulisse  studia  .  .  . 
ad  quern  audiendum  cum  midti  nostratum  {i.e. 
Germanorum)  confluant,"  etc.,  etc.  (quoted  by  Specht). 
But  such  local  schools  had  to  give  way  before  the 
superior  attractions  and  facilities  of  access  and  of 
living  which  towns  like  Paris  afforded.  In  the  time 
of  William  of  Champeaux  Paris  finally  established  its 
supremacy.  "When  one  hears  William  of  Cham- 
peaux," writes  a  contemporary,  "  one  believes  that  an 
angel  from  heaven  is  speaking,  not  a  man." 

Thirty  years  after  William  ceased  to  teach,  John 
of  Salisbury  spent  twelve  years  as  a  student  in  Paris, 
beginning  in  11 36,  and  from  him  we  learn  that  there 
then  existed  in  Paris  a  large  number  of  able  masters 
who  taught  arts  and  theology  in  their  own  schools. 
He  himself  names  twelve,  whom  he  either  attended 
or  personally  knew.     But  as  yet  no  common  bond 


150      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

united  them.  They  were  not  a  community  living 
under  general  rules,  and  therefore  not  a  universitas. 
The  number  of  students  who  gathered  round  those 
teachers  was  very  great.  We  begin  to  form  some 
conception  of  the  quality  as  well  as  the  quantity  of 
the  auditors  when  we  read  that,  of  Abelard's  pupils 
alone,  twenty  became  cardinals,  and  fifty  bishops  or 
archbishops.  The  crowd  of  scholars  had  made  it 
necessary  to  restrict  the  cloistral  central  school,  at 
least  in  so  far  as  its  *precincts  afforded  a  residence, 
to  members  of  the  Church  of  Paris,  so  early  as  1127. 
Foreigners  had  to  seek  accommodation  elsewhere. 

When  William  of  Champeaux  was  lecturing  in 
1097,  and  had  among  his  pupils  Abelard,  the  lectures 
were  public,  and  the  school  wras  a  schola  publica. 
There  were  other  schools  held  in  the  houses  of  St. 
Victor  and  St.  Genevieve.  Whether  these  latter  were 
originally  "  public "  schools  or  not,  we  know  that  the 
central  school  of  arts,  held  in  the  cloister  of  Notre 
Dame,  was  certainly  public,  and  had  probably  retained 
its  "  public  "  character  from  the  time  of  Charlemagne. 
Other  public  schools  arose  about  this  time  in  the 
district  afterwards  called  the  "university" — many  of 
these,  doubtless,  confining  their  curriculum  to  the 
trivium.  The  only  restriction  in  opening  a  school 
was  that  it  should  be  in  the  vicinity  of  the  principal 
school.  In  this  central  school  canon  law  as  well  as 
theology  were  publicly  taught, — the  former  certainly 
after  the  Decretum  of  Gratian,  dated  1 1 5 1,  if  not  before 


UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS.  151 

While,  therefore,  we  find  in  the  impulse  Abelard 
gave  to  philosophy  the  force  that  finally  converted 
the  arts  school  of  Paris  into  a  universitas,  we  see  that 
public  teaching  had  long  existed.  But,  spite  of  this, 
it  would  be  inaccurate  to  say  that  the  central  and 
surrounding  schools  actually  constituted  a  universitas 
much  before  1140,  for,  although  there  was  specialized 
instruction  of  a  public  character,  there  was  no  free 
literary  organization  of  masters.  The  spirit  and 
essence  of  a  studium  generale  was  there,  but  not 
yet  the  form.  It  was  in  the  reign  of  Louis  VI L,  who 
ascended  the  throne  in  1 1 35,  that  privileges  were  first 
conferred  on  the  Paris  school ;  that  is  to  say,  in 
addition  to  those  already  adhering  to  it  as  an  evo- 
lution of  the  old  arts  school  of  Notre  Dame.  If 
we  further  bear  in  mind  that  Alexander  III.,  who 
ascended  the  papal  chair  in  1 1 59,  issued  two  bulls  in 
favour  of  the  rising  school,  in  both  of  which  it  is 
recognized  as  an  organization  of  some  duration,  we 
are  justified,  I  think,  in  concluding  that  the  Paris 
cathedral  school  never  lost  the  impulse  given  to  it 
by  Charlemagne,  that  throughout  the  whole  of  the 
eleventh  century  it  was  an  active  centre  both  of 
theology  and  canon  law,  as  well  as  of  arts  ;  further, 
that  it  had  not  begun  to  free  itself  from  the  canonical 
organization  till  about  1100,  under  William,  and  that 
it  did  not  wholly  free  itself  until  the  specialization  into 
a  great  theological  and  philosophical  school  was  finally 
determined  by  the   genius  of  Abelard.     It  was  just 


152      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

about  the  time  of  Abelard's  death,  in  fact,  that  the 
large  and  ever-increasing  concourse  of  students  not 
only  testified  to  the  celebrity  of  the  new  centre  of 
learning,  but  led  to  the  division  of  the  students  into 
"nations"  for  purposes  of  mutual  intercourse  and 
protection  ;  but  this  as  yet  in  a  quite  rudimentary 
and  tentative  form. 

Peter  the  Lombard  lectured  1145-1159.  The 
marking  of  the  progress  of  studies  by  means  of  degrees 
seems  to  have  begun  during  his  regency,  but  this 
as  yet  in  a  somewhat  irregular  fashion.  Nations 
existed  about  1150  in  some  form  more  or  less  lax; 
but  they  were  certainly  not  yet  organized.  The 
offer  of  Henry  II.  of  England  to  appeal  his  quarrel 
with  Thomas  of  Canterbury  to  the  school  of  Paris 
makes  mention  of  the  nations,  at  least  as  provincial 
unions. 

But  the  "nations"  were  not  the  University  of  Paris, 
nor  did  they  form  the  original  basis  of  its  organization. 
The  numerous  masters  of  arts,  with  the  addition  of  the 
masters  of  theology  and  canon  law,  constituted  the 
starting-point  of  the  university  as  an  organization.  If 
degrees  began  to  be  given  before  1 159,  it  follows  that 
the  masters  were  organized  in  some  fashion  before  that 
date ;  nay,  that  those  teaching  arts,  theology,  and 
canon  law  had  respectively  some  understanding  among 
themselves  which,  though  not  constituting  them 
faculties  in  the  later  sense,  were  certainly  the  be- 
ginnings of  faculties.     Matthew  of  Paris  relates  that 


UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS.  153 

Jean  de  la  Celle,  elected  Abbot  of  St.  Alban's  in 
1195,  had  studied  at  Paris,  and  had  been  admitted 
there  ad  electorum  consortium  magistrorum.  The 
masters  evidently  held  meetings  and  regulated  all 
matters  connected  with  instruction,  and  thus  formed 
the  first  development  of  the  studium  generale  out  of 
the  original  school  of  arts.  It  would  be  superfluous 
to  show  that  this  was  all  both  natural  and  necessary. 
True,  both  theology  and  the  Decree  were  spoken  ot 
in  the  twelfth  century  as  artes  liberates  y  and  the  word 
"faculty,"  where  it  occurs,  is  simply  equivalent  to 
subject  or  department  of  study,  but  none  the  less  were 
the  beginnings  of  what  afterwards  became  "  faculties  " 
then  visible.  And  this  beginning  of  the  university  in 
a  consortium  magistrorum  influenced  the  organization 
of  the  universitas  throughout  its  whole  history.  Paris, 
in  fact,  was  commonly  differentiated  as  a  universitas 
magistrorum,  although  it  called  itself  in  its  official 
documents  a  universitas  magistrorum  et  scholarium, 
and  the  pope  so  addressed  it.  Thus  the  public  arts 
school  of  Notre  Dame  took  the  first  great  step  in  its 
new  evolution. 

The  above  view  of  the  rise  of  the  University  ot 
Paris  furnishes  an  explanation  of  many  of  its  pecu- 
liarities. For  example  ;  it  was  because  it  was  the 
centre  of  theological  learning  that  it  received  so  many 
privileges  from  the  pope,  and  was  kept  in  such  close 
relation  to  the  papal  see  by  a  continuous  succession 
of  bulls :   again,  it  was  because  it  remained  an  arts 


154     MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

school  that  its  students  were  so  young.  The  students 
of  Bologna  and  Padua  were  much  older  than  those  of 
Paris,  because  the  specific  professional  studies  for 
which  these  universities  were  famous  began  only  after 
the  conclusion  of  an  arts  course.  The  quiet  super- 
session of  the  old  episcopal  arts  school  by  the  uni- 
versity teaching  of  arts  is  also  now  quite  intelligible. 
As  soon  as  Paris  became  an  European  centre  of 
education,  it  would  be  impossible  for  one  cathedral 
school  to  accommodate  all  seeking  admission,  however 
willing  the  authorities  might  be  to  receive  them.  It 
was  thus  that  various  schools  were  opened,  and  that 
ere  long  teachers  arose  in  connection  with  the 
nations,  who  carried  the  boys,  who  came  from  all 
parts  of  Europe,  through  a  course  precisely  similar 
to  that  given  in  the  monastery  and  cathedral  schools  ; 
that  is  to  say,  grammar,  rhetoric,  and  dialectic, 
including  under  grammar  the  study  (but  a  restricted 
one)  of  Latin  authors. 

All  the  facts  known  to  us  seem  to  support  the  view 
I  have  set  forth.  For  example,  William  of  Champeaux 
delivered  his  lectures  first  in  the  episcopal  palace,  and 
afterwards  removed  to  the  Priory  of  St.  Victor  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Seine.  Abelard,  too,  seems  to  have 
lectured  in  the  episcopal  palace  till  he  had  to  take 
refuge  on  the  hill  of  St.  Genevieve.  Thereafter,  the 
arts  school  specially  attached  to  the  cathedral  broke 
up  and  took  other  quarters,  theology  and  the  Decree 
alone  continuing  to  be  taught  there.     Then,  after  the 


UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS.  155 

formation  of  the  students  into  nations,  four  halls  were 
erected  by  the  four  nations  respectively,  where  the 
students  of  each  nation  received  instruction.  But, 
outside  these  halls,  any  licentiate  (i.e.  master)  might 
hire  a  room  and  advertise  his  lectures  ;  and  thus  in 
the  course  of  time  arose  the  Quart ier  Latin,  so 
called  because  inhabited  almost  solely  by  masters 
and  scholars.  There  were  hundreds  of  masters.  In 
1348  there  were  514  actu  regentes  in  arts  alone,  not  to 
speak  of  other  faculties.  There  were  no  special  uni- 
versity buildings.  Even  for  their  great  assemblies  the 
authorities  had  to  borrow  the  Church  of  St.  Maturin. 

The  scholars  who  frequented  these  various  schools 
were  very  numerous,  but  they  were  also,  as  I  have  said, 
very  young.  In  the  thirteenth  century  Bulaeus  tells  us 
that  it  was  necessary  to  pass  a  statute  excluding  from 
the  university  all  under  twelve  years  of  age.  The 
fact  that  the  mediaeval  universities  of  Oxford  and 
Paris  included  in  their  organization  the  work  of 
grammar  schools  explains  the  large  attendance  at 
these  seats  of  learning.  Accordingly,  when  we  hear 
of  twenty  thousand  or  thirty  thousand  students,* 
we  have  to  bear  in  mind  that  boys  came  to  these 
university  centres  to  receive  secondary  instruction, 
which  terminated  with  the  bachelor's  degree.     It  has 

*  Some  are  disposed  to  throw  doubt  on  these  large  numbers. 
Dollinger,  however  ("Die  Universitaten  sonst  und  jetzt"),  quotes 
the  general  procurator,  Arnauld,  for  the  number  (20,000  to  30,000) 
at  a  much  later  period,  when  there  were  rival  universities. 


156      MEDIMVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

also  to  be  noted  that  the  personal  attendants  of  the 
wealthier  students,  and  the  college  cooks  and  servitors, 
were  matriculated  as  cives,  in  order  that  they  might 
share  the  privileges  and  protection  of  person,  which 
were  extended  by  royal  charter  or  papal  bull  to  the 
universitas  as  a  whole.  We  are  not  to  conclude 
that  a  large  proportion  of  these  students  went  for- 
ward either  to  professional  or  scientific  studies.  It 
was,  in  fact,  partly  with  a  view  to  retain  men,  after 
graduation,  in  the  interests  of  learning  and  science,  that 
collegiate  foundations  arose,  and  partly  for  the  purpose 
of  providing  gratuitous  maintenance  for  poor  scholars. 
These  objects  of  collegiate  foundations  have  been  too 
often  forgotten  by  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  Every 
pursuit  outside  the  professional  or  money-making 
had,  in  mediaeval  times  even  more  than  in  our  own,  to 
be  artificially  fostered.  But  even  in  these  days,  it  is 
generally  believed  that  the  scientific  investigator,  in 
Wie  field  of  either  matter  or  mind,  has  not  so  good 
a  chance  of  obtaining  recognition  at  our  English 
v  universities  as  those  who  possess,  not  knowledge,  but 
a  mere  instrument  of  knowledge  in  the  shape  of  a 
minute  acquaintance  with  the  tongues  in  which  Latins  j 
and  Greeks  wrote. 

As  to  the  study  of  Law  in  Paris :  I  have  pointed 
out  that  instruction  had  frequently  been  given  in  the 
monastery  schools  in  the  Theodosian  Code  after  the 
seventh  century,  and  that  Charlemagne  to  some  extent 
revived  the  study.     When  we  see  it  stated  that  the 


UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS.  157 

canonists  in  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century 
taught  civil  law  in  Paris,  this  teaching  (if  prior  to  the 
death  of  Irnerius,  1 138  ?)  must  have  been  of  a  very 
fragmentary  kind.  The  Church,  in  fact,  never  looked 
with  favour  on  the  study  of  the  civil  law  at  Paris. 
It  was  regarded  by  others  than  ecclesiastics  as  lower- 
ing the  scientific  character  of  universities,  and  as 
training  a  class  of  mere  practitioners.  It  is  on  the 
surface,  too,  that  the  Church  could  not  look  with 
much  favour  on  the  rise  of  a  rival  to  the  canon 
law.  The  civil  law  is  the  law  of  the  civ  is ;  it  is 
the  law  of  the  state,  not  of  the  Church,  and  is  the 
bulwark  of  liberty.  At  Paris,  above  all — the  centre 
of  theological  thought  and  ecclesiastical  jurisprudence 
— it  was  felt  to  be  necessary  to  protest  against  the 
intruder.  Accordingly  Pope  Honorius  III.  (1216- 
1227)  prohibited  the  teaching  of  it  in  Paris;  and  it 
was  authoritatively  taught  there  only  after  1679. 
Meanwhile  it  was  the  specialty  of  Orleans  and  other 
towns  of  France  and  also  of  Italy. 

Medicine  was  not  taught  at  Paris  during  the 
twelfth  century.  John  of  Salisbury,  writing  as  late 
as  1 1 60,  says  that  those  who  desired  to  study 
medicine  had  to  go  to  Salernum  or  Montpellier. 
But  the  names  of  distinguished  physicians  occur  in 
the  Parisian  records  after  this  date,  and  the  subject 
was  formally  taught  not  later  than  1200.  Degrees  or 
licences  in  medicine  were  conferred  in  1231. 

Thus   by  the  year  1200  we  find  Paris  an  active 


158     MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

and  flourishing  high  school  of  theology  (this  subject 
still  classed,  however,  as  one  of  the  liberal  arts),  of 
arts,  canon  law,  and  medicine,  and  organized  as  a 
universitas  magistrorum,  with  a  more  or  less  lax 
organization  of  the  students  into  nations.  At  the 
same  time,  the  silence  of  Robert  de  Courcon,  the 
papal  legate  sent  to  settle  differences  that  had  arisen, 
leads  to  the  conclusion  that  canon  law  and  medicine 
had  not  in  12 15  assumed  any  prominence  in  the  uni- 
versity work.  "The  foundations  of  the  university," 
says  Bonaventura,  "  were  laid  in  arts  ;  law  and  physics 
were  the  walls,  and  divinity  the  roof  of  the  academic 
system."  The  formation  of  the  faculties  will  be 
referred  to  in  a  subsequent  lecture. 

Privileges. — In  evolving  itself,  the  rising  studium 
generale  school  carried,  I  say,  with  it  the  privileges  of 
the  Paris  arts  school.  How  else  can  we  explain  the 
reference  to  "  ancient "  privileges  by  Pope  Alexander 
III.  (11 59) ?  But  it  also  carried  with  it  the  superin- 
tendence of  the  Chancellor  of  Notre  Dame.  In  the 
future  history  of  the  universitas,  the  question  of  the 
respective  rights  of  the  universitas  magistrorum  et 
scholarium  and  the  chancellor  were  a  matter  of  con- 
stant contention,  until  the  latter  were  restricted  to  the 
merely  formal  conferring  of  degrees.  As  regards 
further  privileges,  we  do  not  need  a  knowledge  of 
the  facts  to  understand  what  a  consortium  magis- 
trorum, with  a  large  and  increasing  number  of  students, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS.  159 

would  seek  to  acquire.  They  would  naturally  assume 
and  demand  the  recognition  of  their  inner  autonomy 
and  their  control  over  the  testing  of  the  qualifications 
of  those  who  sought  to  join  them.  They  would  also 
seek  protection  from  the  interference  of  alien  powers 
such  as  already  was  possessed  by  the  clerus ;  and  if 
they  could  not  secure  endowments,  they  would  yet 
seek  to  obtain  such  immunities  from  public  service 
and  from  taxation  as  had  been  possessed  by  the 
sophists  and  orators  of  the  Roman  empire,  as  well 
as  by  the  Church.  In  default  of  liberal  local  recogni- 
tion of  their  presumed  rights,  they  would  go  to  king, 
emperor,  or  pope,  and  so  transfer  their  allegiance  from 
the  civic  to  the  civil  power,  and  if  necessary  from  the 
civil  to  the  supreme  ecclesiastical  authority — the  pope. 
And  this  is  precisely  what  the  early  universitates  did. 
The  privileges  which  they  gradually  acquired 
were  due  in  Paris,  as  in  Bologna  and  elsewhere, 
to  two  causes — the  desire  to  foster  learning,  and 
the  desire  of  the  civic  authorities  to  give  dignity 
to  their  town,  and  to  attract  students  who  came  in 
such  numbers  as  to  be  of  great  value  to  local  trade. 
But  larger  and  more  liberal  views  prevailed  among 
governing  men.  "  We  owe,"  says  Frederic  Barbarossa 
in  1158,  "our  protc  :tton  to  all  our  subjects,  but  above 
all  to  those  whose  knowledge  enlightens  the  world, 
and  whose  teachings  instruct  our  people  in  their  duty 
to  obey  God  and  us  who  are  the  ministers  of  the 
divine  power." 
13 


160     MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

The  circumstances  which  led  to  a  ratification  and. 
further  extension  by  Philip  Augustus,  in  1200,  of  the 
privileges  already  enjoyed  by  the  University  of  Paris 
under  the  edicts  of  Louis  VII.  and  the  Papal  Letters, 
or  simply  assumed  without  being  questioned,  are 
worth  relating  as  throwing  light  on  the  way  in  which 
the  earliest  universities  acquired  an  extension  of  their 
immunities  and  prerogatives,  and  became  independent 
and  autonomous  communities.  The  servant  of  a 
member  of  the  university  (the  Archdeacon  of  Liege) 
having  been  sent  to  fetch  wine  for  his  master, 
quarrelled  with  some  one  in  the  tavern,  was  beaten, 
and  had  his  flask  broken.  As  both  servant  and 
master  belonged  to  the  English  nation,  a  crowd  of 
students  of  this  nation  attacked  the  tavern-keeper's 
house,  and  left  him  for  dead.  The  Paris  citizens, 
with  the  provost  at  their  head,  rose  to  take  vengeance, 
and,  attacking  the  English  boarding-house  or  hostel, 
slew  several  of  the  inmates,  including  the  member  of 
the  university  who  had  sent  for  the  wine.  The 
teachers  of  the  university  at  once  indignantly  sought 
satisfaction  from  the  king  ;  and  he,  fearing  that  the 
masters  and  their  scholars  would  leave  Paris  in 
disgust,  punished  the  provost  of  the  town  and  his 
subordinates  with  great  severity,  and  gave  fresh 
privileges  to  the  university  which  should  protect  them 
from  all  such  exercises  of  civic  authority  in  the 
future.  The  popes,  too,  supported  this  view  of 
university  privilege,  and  even  restricted  (though  not 


UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS.  161 

till  afterwards,  in  the  time  of  Honorius  III.,  after- 
wards confirmed  by  Gregory  IX.)  the  episcopal 
power  of  excommunicating  members  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Paris  without  the  approval  of  the  Holy 
See  being  first  obtained.  Thus  the  university  was 
protected  in  its  privileges  on  both  sides — the  civic 
and  the  ecclesiastical.  In  1229,  under  Gregory  IX., 
wTe  find  the  chancellor  finally  restricted  to  the  formal 
and  purely  ministerial  act  of  granting  the  licentia. 

"  What  rendered  the  University  of  Paris  especially 
powerful  [but  Paris  was  no  exception  to  other 
schools],  nay,  positively  formidable,  was,"  says  Savigny, 
*  its  poverty.  The  university  itself,  the  faculties,  the 
nations,  were  one  and  all  of  them  poor,  and  even  the 
colleges,  burdened  with  many  expenses,  could  by  no 
means  be  described  as  wealthy.  The  university  did 
not  possess  so  much  as  a  building  of  its  own,  but 
was  commonly  obliged  to  hold  its  meetings  in  the 
cloisters  of  friendly  monastic  orders.  Its  existence 
and  power  thus  assumed  a  purely  spiritual  character, 
and  was  rendered  permanently  independent  of  the 
temporal  authority."  * 

The  next  most  important  events,  after  the  ex- 
tension of  privileges  by  Philip  Augustus  in  1200, 
were  unquestionably  the  disruption  of  1229  and  the 
separation  of  the  theological  faculty  from  that  of 
arts ;  or  rather,  let  us  say,  the  formal  institution, 
*  Quoted  by  Mr.  Kirkpatrick,  p.  205. 


i62      MEDIMVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

for  the  first  time,  of  a  specific  theological  faculty, 
which  took  place  in  1270.  I  say  the  "formal"  in- 
stitution, for  the  "  Littera  universitatis  magistrorum  et 
scholarium  Parisiis  studentium"  of  1254  recognizes 
the  existence  of  four  faculties— theology,  canon  law, 
medicine,  and  philosophy — comparing  them  to  the 
four  rivers  of  Paradise.  It  was  only  after  this  date, 
however,  that  they  had  a  formal  existence. 

The  disruption  to  which  we  have  above  alluded, 
and  which  preceded  the  formal  institution  of  the  theo- 
logical faculty  by  forty  years,  was  caused  by  a  town- 
and-gown  riot,  in  which  Queen  Blanche,  under  the 
advice  of  the  bishop  and  the  papal  legate,  unfortu- 
nately opposed  the  university,  and  indeed  committed 
herself  to  the  infliction  of  unmerited  castigation  on 
certain  students.  The  provost  of  Paris,  proceeding  to 
punish  the  students,  under  her  direction,  attacked  them 
while  at  their  games  outside  the  city,  and  slew  several 
who  had  taken  no  part  in  the  previous  riot.  The  uni- 
versity authorities  were  violently  excited  :  they  de- 
manded satisfaction,  and,  this  having  been  refused,  a 
large  number  of  masters  and  their  pupils  left  Paris 
in  disgust,  and  settled  at  various  younger  university 
seats  which  had  begun  to  arise  in  France,  such  as 
Orleans  and  Toulouse,  and  even  reopened  indepen- 
dent schools  at  Angers,  Poitiers,  and  Rheims.  The 
English  portion  of  the  university  went  to  Oxford  and 
Cambridge,  and  Henry  III.  took  advantage  of  the 
opportunity  to  invite  the  foreign  masters  also  to  with- 


UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS.  163 

draw  to  England  and  take  refuge  under  his  protection. 
It  is  said  that  not  a  single  master  of  any  eminence 
remained  in  Paris.  Notwithstanding  the  efforts  of 
kings  and  bishops,  including  the  thunder  of  excom- 
munication, Paris  never  quite  recovered  from  this 
secession.  But  other  towns  gained  by  it,  and  Meiners 
(I  think  rightly)  is  of  opinion  that  it  was  the 
migration  to  Oxford  at  this  time  which  first  converted 
Oxford  into  an  "university,"  in  the  full  sense  of 
the  term  as  understood  in  France  and  Italy.  Those 
who,  yielding  to  royal  and  papal  pressure,  ultimately 
returned  to  Paris,  did  so  only  on  receiving  the  most 
solemn  promises  that  satisfaction  would  be  given. 
And  as  the  Bishop  and  Chancellor  of  Paris  had  been 
among  the  chief  offenders,  the  pope  (Gregory  IX.) 
restricted  in  all  time  coming  the  powers  previously 
exercised  by  them  over  the  university,  but  astutely 
made  it,  at  the  same  time,  more  dependent  on  himself. 
We  learn  from  this  secession  (and  from  those  of 
Bologna,  Oxford,  Cambridge,  and  Prague)  that  the 
early  universities  regarded  themselves  as  autonomous 
organizations;  that  they  consisted,  in  their  own 
opinion,  merely  of  a  community  or  universitas  of 
teachers  and  scholars,  electing  their  own  governors, 
regulating  their  own  studies,  and  promoting  their  own 
candidates  for  degrees,  without  the  necessary  inter- 
vention even  of  a  chancellor. 

The  Nations. — I  have  already  had  to  refer  to  the 
"nations"  in  general  terms.     Natural  and  obvious 


1 64      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

causes  led  to  the  formation  of  these,  at  Paris  as  at 
Bologna ;  but,  like  every  other  part  of  the  university 
organization,  it  was  not  till  the  beginning  of  the 
thirteenth  century  that  they  took  their  well-known 
historical  form.  All  the  students  belonged  to  one  or 
other  of  four  nations — the  Picard,  the  Norman,  the 
French  (which  embraced  Italians,  Spaniards,  Greeks, 
and  Orientals),  and  the  English  (which  embraced  the 
English,  Irish,  Germans,  Poles,  and  all  others  from 
the  north  of  Europe).  The  "  English "  nation  was 
subsequently  called  the  German,  probably  because 
the  secession  from  Paris  and  the  growing  fame  of 
Oxford  and  Cambridge  had  lessened  the  proportion 
of  students  from  England.  The  subdivisions  of  the 
nations  were  determined  by  the  localities  from  which 
the  students  and  masters  came.  Each  subdivision 
elected  its  own  dean,  and  kept  its  own  matricula- 
tion-book and  money-chest.  The  whole  "nation" 
was  represented,  it  is  true,  by  the  elected  procurator ; 
but  the  deans  of  the  subdivisions  were  regarded  as 
important  officials,  and  were  frequently,  if  not  always, 
assessors  of  the  procurators.  The  procurators,  four 
in  number,  were  elected,  not  by  the  students  as  in 
Bologna  and  Padua,  but  by  the  students  and  masters. 
Each  nation  with  its  procurator  and  deans  was  an 
independent  body,  passing  its  own  statutes  and 
rules,  and  exercising  supervision  over  the  lodging- 
houses  of  the  students.  They  had  each  a  seal  as 
distinguished  from  the  university  seal,  and  each  pro- 


UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS,  165 

curator  stood  to  his  *  nation  "  in  the  same  relation  as 
the  Rector  did  to  the  whole  universitas.  The  Rector, 
again,  was  elected  by  the  procurators,  who  sat  as  his 
assessors,  and  together  they  constituted  the  governing 
body;  but  this  for  purposes  of  discipline,  protection 
and  defence  of  privileges  chiefly,  the  consortium 
magistrorum  regulating  the  schools.  But  so  indepen- 
dent were  the  nations  that  the  question  whether  each 
had  power  to  make  statutes  that  overrode  those  of 
the  universitas,  was  still  a  question  so  late  as  the 
beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

The  complete  organization  of  the  nations,  I  have 
said,  did  not  exist  till  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  There  were  nations  in  the  form  of  spon- 
taneous aggregations  of  students  for  mutual  help  and 
protection  as  early  as  the  middle  of  the  twelfth 
century,  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  they  had  the 
formal  constitution  which  I  have  briefly  sketched 
till  1200-1220.*  The  Rector  was  originally  head  of  the 
nations  only  as  such,  and  as  they  existed  for  purposes 
of  discipline  and  protection,  he  had  consequently 
at  first  no  authority  in  the  general  government  of 
the  university.  His  power  was  greatly  increased 
when  he  became,  not  only  Rector  of  the  nations,  but 
also  of  the  Arts  faculty,  which  he  did  before  1274. 
It  is  first  in  1341  that  he  appears  as  head  of  the  whole 

*  According  to  Denifle,  p.  106.  I  have  deleted  in  my  proof  what 
I  had  said  on  the  subject  of  "  nations  "  in  deference  to  the  irresistible 
argument  <M  rhis  author.     See  preface  to  these  lectures. 


166      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

university,  and  that  the  form  "  Nos  rector  et  universitas 
magistrorum  et  scholarium,"  is  used.  Long  before 
that,  the  Chancellor,  who  was  the  original  official  head 
of  the  universitas,  had  been  restricted  to  the  conferring 
of  degrees. 

That  Paris  should  have  been  regarded  throughout 
the  Middle  Ages  as  the  mother  of  universities  arose 
mainly  from  its  cultivation  of  philosophy.  For 
philosophy  was  then  understood  in  a  wide  sense, 
including  the  rational  interpretation  of  the  phenomena 
of  both  mind  and  matter.  A  philosophical  course 
thus  afforded  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries 
the  widest  possible  culture.  It  was  free  from  all 
professional  and  technical  aims,  except  in  so  far  as 
it  ministered  to  theology,  out  of  which  it  indeed 
arose,  and  for  which  the  whole  arts  course  was  a 
preparation.  When  the  separation  of  the  specifically 
theological  teaching  took  place,  all  the  remaining 
studies  continued  to  be  classed,  as  formerly,  under 
the  common  name  of  "arts."  That  the  faculty  was 
called  the  Faculty  of  "Arts"  and  not  of  "  Philosophy," 
arose  out  of  the  historical  continuity  of  the  university 
with  the  old  school  of  arts  under  William  of  Cham- 
peaux.  In  Germany  the  Faculty  of  Arts  is  to  this 
day  called  the  Faculty  of  Philosophy,  and  includes 
the  pure  sciences. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century  an 
university  was    regarded    as    incomplete  which  did 


UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS.  167 

not  provide  for  instruction  and  graduation  in  all  four 
faculties  at  least,  and  hold  from  the  pope  or  some 
royal  or  imperial  authority  the  power  of  doing  so ; 
though,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  Bologna  did  not  possess 
a  faculty  of  theology  till  1360,  nor  Padua  till  1363. 
But  in  their  beginnings  the  universities  were  wholly 
specialist  schools,  generally  absorbing,  however,  into 
their  teaching-organization  the  work  of  the  local 
cathedral  or  municipal  schools  of  arts. 

Montpellier  was  the  first  great  rival  of  Salernum 
as  a  medical  school,  though  law  also  was  from  the 
first  taught  there.  It  became  an  university  by  charter 
in  1229.  Toulouse  dates  as  an  university  (or  formally 
privileged  school)  from  1228.  Orleans  was  late  in 
obtaining  formal  recognition,  not  indeed  till  1305, 
although  it  had  been  to  all  intents  and  purposes  an 
university  of  civil  law  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  years 
before  this. 

There  were  also  schools  of  law  at  Cahors,  Angers, 
and  Bourges. 

When  we  cast  a  retrospect  over  the  past  history  and 
argument,  we  see,  in  the  midst  of  some  complexity  of 
detail,  certain  things  which  stand  out  conspicuously 
and  fix  our  attention.  While  recognizing  the  germ  of 
the  universities  in  the  already  existing  arts  schools,  we 
yet  see  that  the  new  institutions,  in  so  far  as  they  had 
the  making  of  universities  in  them,  early  assumed 
a  distinctive  or  specialized  character.     We  further  see 


168      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

that  they  were  commonwealths  of  learning,  which 
simply  assumed  certain  rights  and  privileges  after- 
wards confirmed.  The  humblest  student  was  a 
member  of  this  commonwealth.  Multitudes  of  regents 
may  be  almost  said  to  have  touted  for  pupils :  these 
they  carried  forward  to  their  first  degree,  and  thereafter 
lectured  to  them  as  candidates  for  the  mastership. 
The  students  led  a  free  and  uncontrolled  life,  seeking 
and  finding  protection  in  their  own  university  authori- 
ties even  from  the  civil  power.  There  was  an  imperium 
in  imperio.  Every  student  had  to  be  enrolled  with 
some  magister,  but,  subject  to  this,  there  was  great 
freedom.  The  community  was  a  respnblica  literaria 
in  the  fullest  sense,  and  chose  its  own  governors  and 
regulated  its  own  police  as  well  as  its  own  education. 
Any  attempt  to  interfere  with  the  complete  autonomy 
of  the  university  was  stoutly  resisted. 

"It  would  be,"  says  Savigny,*  "altogether  erro- 
neous were  we  to  look  on  the  earliest  universities 
of  the  Middle  Ages  as  educational  institutions  in  our 
modern  sense — as  foundations  in  which  a  monarch 
or  a  town  might  have  in  view  the  provision  of  in- 
struction for  a  native  population,  the  admission  of 
strangers  being,  however,  recognized.  It  was  not  so. 
A  teacher  inspired  by  a  love  of  teaching  gathered 
round  him  a  circle  of  scholars  eager  to  learn.  Other 
teachers  followed,  the  circle  of  listeners  increased,  and 
thus  by  a  kind  of  inner  necessity  an  enduring  school 
*  "Geschichte  des  Romischen  Rechts,"  xx.  58. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS.  169 

was  founded.  How  great  must  have  been  the  reputa- 
tion and  influence  of  such  a  school  at  a  time  when 
they  were  but  few  in  number  throughout  Europe,  and 
when  oral  instruction  was  nearly  the  only  path  to 
comprehensive  knowledge !  How  great  the  pride  of 
the  professors,  how  great  the  enthusiasm  of  the  scholars, 
who  perhaps  had  traversed  Europe  to  spend  long  years 
in  Paris  and  Bologna  \n 

Again,  "the  distinguishing  traits  of  the  student- 
life,"  says  Le  Clerc,  speaking  of  Paris,*  "  the  memories 
of  which  survived  with  singular  tenacity,  were  poverty, 
ardent  application,  and  turbulence.  The  students  in 
the  faculty  of  arts — 'the  artists' — whose  numbers  in 
the  fourteenth  century,  partly  owing  to  the  reputation 
of  the  Parisian  trivium  and  qiiadrivium,  and  partly 
in  consequence  of  the  declining  ardour  of  the  theo- 
logians, were  constantly  on  the  increase,  were  by  no 
means  the  most  ill  disciplined.  Older  students,  those 
especially  in  the  theological  faculty,  with  their  fifteen 
or  sixteen  years'  course  of  study,  achieved  in  this 
respect  a  far  greater  notoriety.  At  the  age  of  thirty 
or  forty  the  student  at  the  university  was  still  a 
scholar.  This,  indeed,  is  one  of  the  facts  which  best 
explain  the  influence  then  exercised  by  a  body  of 
students  and  their  masters  over  the  affairs  of  religion 
and  of  the  state.  However  serious  the  inconvenience 
and  the  risk  of  thus  converting  half  a  great  city  into 
a  school,  we  have  abundant  evidence  how  great  was 
*  "  Etat  des  Lettres  au  xive.  Siecle,"  i.  269,  quoted  by  MulHnger. 


170      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

the  attraction  exercised  by  this  vast  seminary,  where 
the  human  intellect  exhausted  itself  in  efforts  which 
perhaps  yielded  small  fruit,  though  they  promised 
much.  To  seekers  for  knowledge  the  whole  of  the 
Montagne  Latine  was  a  second  fatherland.  The 
narrow  streets,  the  lofty  houses,  with  their  low  arch- 
ways, their  damp  and  gloomy  courts,  and  halls  strewn 
with  straw,  were  never  to  be  forgotten ;  and  when, 
after  many  years,  old  fellow-students  met  again  at 
Rome,  or  at  Jerusalem,  or  on  the  fields  of  battle  where 
France  and  England  stood  arrayed  for  conflict,  they 
said  to  themselves,  Nos  fuintus  sitnul  in  Garlandia ; 
or  they  remembered  how  they  had  once  shouted  in 
the  ears  of  the  watch  the  defiant  menace,  Allez  au  clos 
Brunean?  vous  trouverez  a  qui parler  ln 


Note. — The  constitution  of  the  University  of  Paris,  given  by  Crevier 
as  existing  in  his  own  time  (1761),  had  been  for  so  long  substantially  the 
same  as  he  gives  it,  that  it  may  well  be  inserted  here  as  a  help  to  a 
knowledge  of  the  constitution  of  universities  generally. 

SCHEME  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS. 

The  University  of  Paris  is  composed  of  seven  companies,  viz. : 

The  Faculty  of  Theology,  with  the  oldest  of  its  secular  doctors  for  its 
chief,  under  the  name  of  dean. 

The  Faculty  of  Law,  which  had  been  established  for  canon  law  only, 
but  which  is  authorized  by  the  Ordinance  of  1679  to  teach  civil  law  also. 
It  has  its  dean,  who  is  chosen  annually  from  its  professors,  following  the 
order  of  seniority. 

The  Faculty  of  Medicine,  which  has  an  elected  dean  whose  office 
lasts  two  years. 

•  The  head-quarters  of  the  schools  of  arts  and  canon  law. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS.  171 

The  Nation  of  France. 

The  Nation  of  Picardy. 

The  Nation  of  Normandy. 

The  Nation  of  Germany,  formerly  of  England. 

These  four  Nations  have  each  their  chief,  who  is  called  procurator, 
and  is  changed  yearly. 

All  these  together  form  the  Faculty  of  Arts ;  but  they  no  less  consti- 
tute four  distinct  communities,  each  of  which  has  its  vote  in  the  general 
affairs  of  the  university. 

The  rector  chosen  by  the  Nations  or  their  representatives,  and  drawn 
from  the  body  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts,  is  chief  of  the  whole  university 
and  chief  of  the  Faculty  of  Arts  especially. 

Three  principal  officers  who  are  perpetual,  viz. : 

The  Syndic — the  Secretary  and  Registrar — the  Treasurer: — all  three 
officers  of  the  university,  and  all  three  drawn  from  the  Faculty  of  Arts. 


173      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 


LECTURE  X. 

THE  CONSTITUTION   OF  UNIVERSITIES. 

The  Terms  "  Studium  Generale  "  and  "  Universitas  "— 
University  Constitutions,  etc. 

I  HAVE  endeavoured  in  past  lectures  to  show,  by 
reference  to  the  three  primary  institutions — Salernum, 
Bologna,  and  Paris — how  universities  gradually  came 
into  existence  as  the  expression  of  the  reviving 
intellect  of  Europe,  and  for  the  satisfaction  of  new 
intellectual  and  social  needs.  Incidentally  I  have 
had  to  sketch  the  fundamental  constitution  of  these 
first  universities  ;  and  in  doing  so,  I  have  had,  by  im- 
plication at  least,  to  interpret  the  nature  of  the  con- 
stitutions by  reference  to  their  historical  origins.  From 
what  has  been  said,  it  seems  to  follow  that  the  notes 
of  an  university  or  studium  generale  are  three :  (i) 
That,  whatever  else  it  may  include,  it  is  a  specialized 
school  for  men  open  to  all ;  (2)  that  there  is  free 
teaching  and  free  learning ;  (3)  that  it  is  a  free 
autonomous  organization  of  teachers  and  scholars. 

We  shall  best  extend  our  view  of  mediaeval  uni- 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  UNIVERSITIES.  173 

versities    by    an    historical    explanation    of    certain 
words  : — 

Studium  Generate  or  Publicum. — In  a  document 
addressed  to  Lewis  the  Pious,  two  or  three  years  after 
the  death  of  the  great  Charles,  the  bishops  suggest 
the  erection  of  scholce  publica.  At  that  time  monas- 
tery schools,  interior  and  exterior,  existed,  and  epis- 
copal or  cathedral  schools  were  to  be  found  at  most 
of  the  episcopal  seats.  We  are  not  to  conclude  that 
the  bishops  were  aiming  at  the  institution  of  some- 
thing different  from  either,  and  that  they  had  in  view 
specially  lay  schools  such  as  the  palatine.  All  they 
aimed  at  was  an  increase  in  the  number  of  those 
schools,  which  would  give  to  all  who  chose  to  attend 
them,  and  not  to  ecclesiastics  only,  instruction  in  the 
liberal  arts.  Dr.  Specht  is  of  opinion  that  a  "  schola 
publica"  meant  a  school  which  was  not  confined  to 
the  training  of  monks  or  of  the  clergy,  but  which 
afforded  a  wider  curriculum  in  the  arts  (trivium  and 
quadrivium)  than  was  considered  necessary  for  the 
ordinary  preparation  of  the  ecclesiastic.  The  liberal 
arts  were  sometimes  spoken  of  as  studia  publica 
(Specht,  p.  37).  A  schola  publica  might  thus  be  any 
episcopal  or  monastery  school,  provided  it  was  practi- 
cally a  gymnasium,  and  as  such  had  retained,  or  rather 
revived,  the  traditions  of  those  provincial  high  schools, 
which  had  been  instituted  by  the  Roman  emperors  in 
the  first  and  second  centuries,  and  fostered  by  their 
successors.     There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  at  a 


174      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

schola  publico,,  a  liberal  course  was  given,  but  there 
can  be  as  little  doubt  that  the  original  signification 
of  the  word  was  simply  "  open  to  all."  Accordingly, 
the  word  "  publicum  "  was  soon  used  with  a  twofold 
meaning.  A  "schola  publica"  was  an  arts  school, 
and  therefore  a  public  school ;  a  public  school,  and 
therefore  an  arts  school. 

It  would  appear  that  the  new  term  "studium" 
arose  only  in  the  period  immediately  preceding  the 
birth  of  universities,  the  addition  publicum  being 
understood.  What  we  have  for  centuries  called 
"universities"  were  first  called  sometimes  " scholce? 
sometimes  "  universitates "  with  the  addition  of  the 
words  "magistrorum  et  scholarium."  The  name 
"  studium  generate  "  does  not  seem  to  have  been  used 
till  the  thirteenth  century,  and  it  meant  simply  a 
place  where  one  or  more  of  the  liberal  arts  might  be 
prosecuted,  and  which  was  open  to  all  who  chose  to 
go  there  and  study,  free  from  the  canonical  or  monas- 
tic obligations  and  control ;  but  the  term  "  generate  " 
did  not  convey  that  the  liberal  arts  generally  were 
taught.  The  name  "  studium  generate,"  however,  ere 
long  succeeded  to  the  double  meaning  which  had  be- 
longed to  "studium  publicum,"  and  meant  both  a 
school  for  liberal  studies  and  a  school  open  to  all. 
When,  therefore,  Mr.  Anstey  ("  Monumenta  Aca- 
demica,"  Introd.),  following  others,  translates  generale 
as  "  a  place  of  general  resort  for  students,"  he  takes 
a  partial  view  of  the  meaning  of  the  term  as  popularly 
understood  by  those  who  used  it 


THE   C0NST1TLTI0N  OF  UNIVERSITIES.  175 

At  Rome  and  Alexandria  and  Constantinople,  to 
teach  "  publicly "  was  to  teach  in  places  of  common 
resort  and  open  to  all,  such  as  the  exedrce  of  a  palace 
or  temple,  as  opposed  to  teaching  in  one's  own  house. 
This  appears  from  the  Valentinian  edict  regarding 
the  school  of  Constantinople  referred  to  in  the  first 
lecture. 

Universitas. — The  term  "  universitas "  had  no 
connection  with  "  universale,"  and  did  not,  any  more 
than  the  word  "  generate,"  carry  with  it  any  reference 
to  the  universality  of  the  curriculum  of  study.  This 
is  now  beyond  all  question.  It  was  again  and  again 
formally  applied  by  popes  and  kings  to  institutions 
which  made  no  pretension  to  teach  the  circle  of 
knowledge.  Mr.  Anstey  scarcely  exaggerates  when 
he  says  that  "  vestra  universitas  "  in  a  papal  rescript 
may  often  be  translated  simply  "all  of  you."  In 
running  over  the  works  of  John  of  Salisbury,  I  find 
a  letter  (cclxi.),  written  in  1 168  to  the  Conventus 
of  the  Ecclesia  Cantuariensis,  which  begins  thus : 
"  Universitati  sanctorum  qui  in  prima  Britanniarum 
sede  .  .  .  Domino  famulantur,"  etc.  In  fact,  the 
term  "universitas"  was  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 
Middle  Ages  applied  to  towns  or  communia  regarded 
as  organized  bodies ;  hence  its  application  by  John 
of  Salisbury  to  a  conventus.  As  applied  to  a  studium, 
it  simply  meant  a  community,  the  word  being  in 
the  course  of  time  restricted  to  a  learned  com- 
munity— a  universitas  liter  aria.  We  learned  in  a 
14 


176      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

previous  lecture  that  in  Bologna  the  general  uni- 
versitas of  students  divided  itself  into  two  sections — 
the  universitas  ultramontanorum  and  the  universitas 
citramontanorum. 

When  the  popes  issued  letters  of  privilege  to  an 
university,  they  addressed  it  (as  did  Frederick  in  the 
case  of  the  University  of  Naples,  founded  by  him)  as 
a  universitas  (or  community)  doctor um  et  scholariiirn. 
Now,  the  mere  epistolary  recognition  of  these  com- 
munities, by  pope  or  monarch,  as  possessing  certain 
privileges  and  internal  rights  of  self-government/was 
practically  their  incorporation,  and  the  term  "uni- 
versitas "  thus  gradually  acquired  the  signification  of 
"incorporated  community,"  at  about  the  same  time 
that  it  began  to  be  restricted  to  learned  institutions. 
The  use  of  the  term  "  universitas  "  by  the  pope  was  in 
no  way  influenced  by  the  number  of  "faculties"  or 
subjects  in  a  Schola  or  Studium.  The  designation 
which  corresponded  to  universitas  as  understood  in 
more  modern  times  was,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  as  I 
have  stated,  studium  generate,  and  a  studium  generale 
might  contain  one  or  more  universitates,  e.g.  uni- 
versitas artistarum,  universitas  juristarum,  etc.  The 
earliest  of  the  universities  which  did  not  grow,  but 
was  from  the  first  founded,  after  older  universities  had 
fully  developed  their  own  constitutions,  was  that 
of  Prague  in  1347,  and  by  that  time  the  words 
"studium  generale,"  which  originally  meant  only  a 
general    and    specialized    school    open    to    all,  and 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF   UNIVERSITIES.  177 

where  public  courses  of  lectures  were  delivered, 
had  come  to  hold  the  secondary  meaning  of  a 
school  which  comprehended  all  the  recognized 
"  faculties" 

The  word  "university"  (universitas  magistrorum 
et  scholarium),  it  is  interesting  to  note,  was  the 
word  first  used  in  official  documents  to  designate 
the  rising  schools  as  differentiated  from  the  studium 
or  schola  of  the  eleventh  century,  and,  after  passing 
through  various  connotations,  it  is  now  again  always 
used. 

Constitutions. — In  the  eleventh  century  the  towns 
in  Italy  and  France  were  reviving  or  initiating  their 
municipal  constitutions,  and  seeking  and  obtaining 
charters  which  gave  the  right  of  free  popular  govern- 
ment, and  independence  of  feudal  and  episcopal 
interference.  Nor  was  this  all :  for  within  the  munici- 
palities themselves,  the  various  trades  were  forming 
themselves,  under  the  free  impulse  of  a  desire  for  self- 
government  and  self-defence,  into  guilds.  Each  trade 
elected  its  own  administrators  from  among  the  masters 
in  the  trade.  Whether  they  had  formally  obtained 
corporate  rights  or  not,  they  assumed  these,  and  had 
them  afterwards  recognized  by  the  municipal  or  civil 
power.  They  acquired  and  administered  property. 
Moreover,  through  their  "jurors"  or  "syndics"  they 
not  only  enforced  the  rules  of  the  trade  on  their  own 
members,  but  they  exercised  civil,  and  in  some  cases 
even  aimed  at  exercising  criminal,  jurisdiction.     This 


i78       MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

last  they  tried  to  exercise  in  defiance  of  municipal 
authority,  but  they  were  soon  compelled  to  restrict 
their  jurisdiction  to  matters  bearing  on  the  rules  of 
their  crafts.  The  jurors  acted  as  arbitrators  between 
master  and  man,  saw  that  the  quality  of  work- 
manship was  kept  up,  received  taxes  from  members 
of  the  guild,  examined  apprentices,  and  initiated 
"masters."  These  jurors  (sometimes  called  syndics, 
elders,  guards,  or  wardens)  were  elected  by  the  votes 
of  the  members  of  the  craft  The  spirit  of  democratic 
freedom  was  particularly  strong  in  the  Italian  muni- 
cipal republics,  and,  in  Bologna  especially,  the  guilds 
exhibited  a  feverish  activity  in  the  eleventh  century. 
In  the  thirteenth  century  we  find  them  confederated 
there  under  one  powerful  head.  It  was  usual  to  call 
the  head  of  a  guild  "rector,"  and  when  there  grew 
up  a  federation,  the  general  head  was  called  "rector 
societatum." 

Let  us  now  turn  from  the  guilds  and  look  at 
a  studium  generale  in  the  twelfth  century.  Dis- 
tinguished teachers  have  drawn  round  them  from 
every  part  of  Europe  thousands  of  ardent  pupils. 
These  are  supposed  to  be  all  working  to  obtain  some 
learned  or  professional  qualification,  and  they  move 
among  each  other  in  a  spirit  of  great  freedom,  and 
animated  by  a  common  purpose.  Buildings  and 
laboratories  do  not  exist.  The  master  or  doctor- 
regents  teach  where  and  when  they  can — generally 
in   their  own   houses   or  hired  rooms,  or  sometimes 


THE   CONSTITUTION  OF  UNIVERSITIES.  179 

(as  in  Paris)  in  the  lodging-houses  called  "  hostels," 
belonging  to  the  English  or  Picard,  or  some  other 
nationality.  The  students  lead  an  almost  uncon- 
trolled life,  which  too  often  tends  to  become  a 
licentious  and  lawless  one.  In  Paris  and  Oxford 
a  large  number  are  mere  boys ;  in  Bologna  and 
Padua,  as  students  of  law,  they  are  of  more  mature 
years. 

Some  sort  of  organization  is  manifestly  needed, 
especially  as  the  numbers  increase.  The  practice 
of  the  free  trade-guilds  is  present  to  the  mind,  and 
indeed  to  the  eyes,  of  all.  The  students  coming  from 
the  same  quarter  naturally  stand  together,  and  by 
the  help  of  the  masters  of  the  same  nationality  con- 
stitute societies  or  nations,  and  at  once  proceed  to  elect 
their  own  chief.  In  Bologna,  where  the  nations  num- 
bered thirty-six  in  all,  each  nation  elects  a  consiliaruts, 
and  as  the  interests  of  foreigners  might  sometimes 
clash  with  those  of  Italians,  the  nations  coming  from 
beyond  the  Alps  combine  into  one  large  universitas 
of  Ultramontanes,  while  the  Italians  combine  into  a 
universitas  of  Citramontanes.  Each  universitas,  with 
the  help  of  its  own  consiliarii,  then  elects  its  rector, 
and  he  and  they  quietly  assume  such  powers  of 
government  and  claim  such  rights  as  they  see 
exercised  by  the  guilds  around  them.  In  Paris 
they  aggregate  themselves  into  four  nations,  but, 
owing  to  the  great  youth  of  the  students,  it  is  the 
"masters"  who  control  the  organization.     It  is  they 


180      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

who  elect  the  procurators,*  who  again  elect  the 
rector,  and  together  they  constitute  the  governing 
body  for  all  purposes  of  discipline  and  protection 
until  the  rise  of  separate  faculties  leads  to  the  intro- 
duction of  the  decani  or  deans.  Emanating  from 
these  authorities,  statutes  are  from  time  to  time 
passed  for  the  regulation  of  the  students,  houses, 
funds,  etc.  They  assume  corporate  rights,  as  did 
the  guilds,  and  these  in  the  course  of  time  become 
recognized  by  pope,  king,  or  emperor. 

Meanwhile  the  masters  also  form  a  consortium 
gradually  breaking  up  into  "  faculties,"  and  in  Bologna 
strengthening  themselves  as  collegia,  f  They  regulate 
the  studies  and  degrees. 

The  literary  universitates  are  lay  in  their  character, 
like  the  guilds.  They  keep  monks  out  of  the  rector- 
ship, and  are  as  jealous  of  the  local  episcopal  inter- 
ference as  they  are  of  civic  control  or  of  royal 
intrusion.  As  difficulties  arise,  they  desire  to  protect 
themselves,  as  did  constantly  the  monastic  com- 
munities, from  local  tyranny,  and  they  seek  pro- 
tection from  the  pope  as  the  universal  father.  Hence 
rescripts  from  Rome,  acknowledging  existing  rights 
and  privileges,  and  conferring  new  ones.  The  early 
universities  were  thus  learned  guilds  which,  soon  after 

*  Denifle  seems  to  say  that  the  students  had  a  vote.  Surely  not 
those  under  the  degree  of  baccalaureus  ? 

t  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  a  collegium  may  exist  without 
a  building. 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  UNIVERSITIES.  181 

their  rise,  begin  to  look  to  the  pope  (nothing  loath) 
to  shield  them  from  both  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil 
power.  Given  the  conditions  which  I  have  explained, 
this  early  organization  was  all  quite  simple  and  natural 
and  obvious.  The  Rectors  (not  at  first,  but  ultimately) 
exercised,  along  with  their  procurators  in  Paris  and 
their  consiliarii  in  Bologna,  great  and  almost  arbitrary 
power.  They  were  assigned  a  high  social  position, 
and  in  some  cases  on  great  occasions  took  precedence 
even  of  archbishops  and  cardinals. 

Cardinal  Newman,  in  his  "Historical  Studies," 
points  out  that  even  so  early  as  the  time  of  the  pre- 
Christian  schools  of  Athens  there  was  a  classification 
of  the  students  into  nations.  Students  would  in  those 
days  range  themselves  under  some  sophist  who  came 
from  their  own  part  of  the  world,  and  call  themselves 
by  his  name.  Again,  Viriville  ("  Hist,  de  Tin.  Pub/') 
says  that  at  the  Romano-Hellenic  schools  in  Gaul,  in 
the  third  and  fourth  centuries,  there  was  a  classifi- 
cation into  nations,  each  of  which  had  its  procurator. 
Although  these  Roman  provincial  schools  may  have 
borrowed  the  practice  from  Athens,  there  is  no 
evidence  that  the  mediaeval  universities  were  con- 
sciously reviving  an  ancient  practice.  Like  causes, 
operating  in  similar  circumstances,  produce  like  effects. 
Even  at  this  day  a  movement  very  much  akin  to  that 
which  led  to  the  formation  of  nations  in  mediaeval 
times  may  be  noticed  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh, 
to  which,  more  than  to  any  other  British  university, 


182      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

the  colonies  send  students.  Australia  and  Canada 
have  their  separate  associations,  and  the  students,  as 
a  body,  have  a  representative  council  to  attend  to  their 
interests.* 

The  Chancellor  resident  at  the  university  seat 
formally  granted  the  degrees  (or  granted  permission 
to  grant  them,  for  this  is  really  what  it  meant  in 
the  case  of  the  archdeacon  at  Bologna),  and  thus 
had  a  titular  position.  He,  however,  exercised  very 
restricted  powers  at  Paris  from  the  first,  except  over 
the  theological,  and  ultimately  scarcely  any ;  in 
Bologna  he  was  little  more  than  a  ceremonial  and 
titular  official ;  but  in  Oxford  and  Cambridge  he 
was  a  part  of  the  governing  body.  An  universitas 
was  autonomous ;  but  the  chancellor  had  always  a 
certain  position  which  entitles  us  to  say  that  he  at 
least  reigned,  if  he  did  not  govern,  and  in  England 
he  governed  as  well  as  reigned.  Some  have  wished 
to  deduce  from  the  position  occupied  by  this  ecclesi- 
astical dignitary  that  the  universities  were  originated 
by  the  Church,  while  others  have  as  eagerly  sought  to 
minimize  his  position  and  authority  in  order  to  main- 
tain the  thesis  that  the  universities  were  a  distinctively 
lay  or  secular  development.  This  discussion  arises 
out  of  a  want  of  historical  imagination.  We  may  say 
that  the  Church  originated  chivalry  as  truly  as  that 
it  originated  universities.  It  saw  the  two  social  move- 
ments  growing  up  around  it  out  of  the   needs  and 

•  They  also  by  statute  elect  the  Rector, 


THE   CONSTITUTION  OF  UNIVERSITIES,  183 

aspirations  of  the  time,  and  it  had  no  cause  to  be 
jealous  of  them ;  for  all  were  of  the  Church,  all 
belonged  to  the  community  of  the  faithful.  Accord- 
ing to  the  early  mediaeval  constitution,  we  must  re- 
member, long  before  the  days  of  Charlemagne,  the 
bishop  held  high  office  alongside  the  lay  governor 
of  a  town — the  defensor.  The  latter  was  an  elected 
head  whose  functions  varied  from  time  to  time,  but 
who  generally  seemed  to  combine  in  himself  many  of 
the  functions  of  an  English  mayor  and  a  French 
prefect.  The  bishop  was,  as  early  as  the  sixth 
century  (at  least),  an  imperial  officer  for  certain 
temporal  affairs,  and  discharged  many  functions  in 
conjunction  with  the  defensor.  When  Charlemagne 
feudalized  the  Church  at  the  beginning  of  the  tenth 
century,  these  secular  episcopal  powers  were  increased 
rather  than  diminished.  Indeed,  counties  were,  after 
this  date,  frequently  known  by  the  name  of  their 
dioceses,  not  dioceses  by  those  of  their  counties.  It 
was  quite  natural,  therefore,  that  in  seeking  for  a  high 
official  who  should  perform  final  ceremonial  acts,  the 
universities  should  seek  the  bishop,  or,  in  his  place, 
the  chancellor  of  the  diocese.  Who  else  was  there 
to  ask  ?  Moreover,  he  already  exercised  educational 
supervision  over  the  cathedral  schools  of  arts,  which 
were  little  more  than  secondary  schools,  but  yet 
were  the   highest  then    known.*      In    England,  and 

*  To  his  precise  relation  to  the  licencia  docendi  I  shall  advert  in  the 
sequel. 


184      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

especially  at  Cambridge,  we  see  brought  distinctly 
into  view  the  ecclesiastical  nature  and  origin  of 
the  chancellor's  functions.  These,  speaking  generally, 
were  a  mere  continuation  of  power  over  the  scho- 
lastic institutions  which  preceded  universities;  and 
if  the  earlier  universities  sought  at  any  time  pro- 
tection from  local  ecclesiastical  oppression,  they 
went  straight  to  the  pope  for  it,  thereby  acknow- 
ledging their  subordination  to  the  highest  Church 
tribunal.  So  far,  then,  universities  were  Church 
institutions. 

And  yet,  the  universities  were  essentially  autono- 
mous lay  communities.  It  would  be  an  anachronism, 
however,  to  speak  of  them  as  being  a  lay  fores 
antagonistic  to  the  ecclesiastical.  There  was  unques- 
tionably a  growth  of  what  may  be  called  lay  feeling 
in  connection  with  the  rise  of  universities,  and  this, 
indeed,  was  already  visible  in  the  order  of  chivalry ; 
but  of  actual  antagonism  to  the  ecclesiastical  power 
there  could  be  none.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  of 
course,  that  the  popes  gave  their  protection  without 
also  interfering.  But  their  interposition  seems  to  have 
been  very  rarely  arbitrary.  While  Rome  was  not  the 
mother,  she  was  yet  the  nurse  of  universities,  and  a 
kindly  genial  nurse.  Honorius  III.  is  said  to  have 
interdicted  the  study  of  medicine  at  Paris,  but  it  was 
only  for  monks  and  the  regular  clergy  that  he  forbade 
this  study,  as  well  as  that  of  civil  law  ;  but  in  the 
department  of  medicine  the  bull  became  a  dead  letter, 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  UNIVERSITIES,  185 

Had  there  been  any  antagonism  between  the  aims  of 
universities  and  the  papal  policy,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  of  the  immediate  result :  the  infant  institutions 
would  have  been  at  once  and  easily  crushed  out. 
Freedom  from  monastic  restrictions  for  the  new 
commonwealths  of  learning  was  never  questioned  ; 
and  these  commonwealths  themselves  wished  for 
nothing  so  much  as  for,  the  enrolment  of  their 
members  among  the  clerici,  so  that  thereby  they 
might  obtain  ecclesiastical  protection.  Why  should 
there  be  any  objection  on  the  part  of  the  pope  to  the 
encouraging  of  new  communities  of  clerici,  who  were 
neither  monks  nor  secular  priests,  but  who  none  the 
less  were  pursuing  studies  beneficial  to  their  fellow- 
men,  and  who  were,  therefore,  promoters  of  the 
aims  of  the  Church  itself — communities  which,  to 
use  the  words  of  Pope  Honorius  III.,  were  "spreading 
everywhere  the  salutary  waters  of  its  doctrine,  and 
irrigating  and  making  fruitful  the  soil  of  the  Church 
universal"?  At  any  moment  the  Church  could  take 
action  :  its  power  was  supreme  and  virtually  arbi- 
trary :  why  should  it  invent  restrictive  laws  ?  Laws, 
moreover,  are  primarily  for  protection,  though  they 
may  be  used  for  oppression.  Where  law  enters  a 
constitution  enters,  and,  with  it,  freedom.  It  can 
never  be  the  true  interest  of  a  pure  despot  to  make 
laws,  for  thereby  arbitrary  power  is  limited,  and  the 
decay  of  despotism  has  begun.  It  was  not,  indeed, 
till  the  Lutheran  reformation  that  conflict  between 


1 86       MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

universities  and  the  papal  power  as  hostile  forces 
really  arose,  although  long  before  that,  and  indeed 
always,  the  popes  kept  a  watchful  eye  on  possible 
heresies,  especially  in  Paris,  and  frequently  intervened 
in  individual  cases.  Yet,  in  the  main,  mediaeval 
universities  were  regarded  as  defenders  of  the  faith ; 
and,  in  return,  the  universities  generally  looked  with 
confidence  to  Rome.  But  while  recognizing  the  papal 
authority  in  the  last  resort,  they  were,  yet,  self- 
governed  republics.  To  this  day  Cambridge  calls 
itself  in  its  calendar  a  "  literary  republic." 

The  Rector  actually  ruled  the  university  along 
with  the  consiliarii  in  Bologna  and  the  procurators 
in  Paris,  although,  in  the  latter  city,  the  Chancellor 
of  the  primary  theological  school  at  Notre  Dame 
.  continued  to  exercise  certain  powers,  not  very  clearly 
defined,  over  the  theological  school,*  and  was  at  first 
and  for  long  the  head  of  the  university.  It  was  only 
by  degrees  that  the  Rector  attained  to  the  first  place, 
having  first  to  pass  through  the  stage  of  being  the 
official  head  of  the  Arts  faculty  as  well  as  of  the 
nations. 

*  In  Paris,  after  1266,  the  rector  might  be  elected  either  by  the 
procurators  or  by  four  men  chosen  for  this  special  duty  ;  and  regulations 
made  in  1 281  evidently  contemplated  the  possibility  of  the  electors  not 
being  the  acting  procurators.  In  these  regulations  it  is  ordered  that 
the  electors  shall  be  shut  up  in  a  room  and  not  allowed  to  communicate 
with  the  external  world  until  a  wax  candle  of  a  prescribed  length  is 
burned  to  the  socket.  If  they  have  not  decided  by  that  time,  other 
electors  are  to  be  chosen.  If  two  of  these  agree,  the  outgoing  rector  is 
to  be  called  in  to  give  his  vote  with  them,  and  so  make  a  majority. 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  UNIVERSITIES.  187 

Thus  the  Church  allowed  to  grow  up — nay,  fos- 
tered— specialized  schools  of  learning  with  republican 
constitutions,  each  of  which,  as  it  embraced  a  new 
faculty,  became  more  and  more  powerful,  until  at  last, 
combined,  they  led  the  thought  of  Europe,  revived  in 
men  an  interest  in  speculation,  led  to  the  asking  of 
endless  questions,  and  initiated  that  scientific  spirit 
which  finally  rendered  the  Church  in  its  mediaeval  form 
for  ever  impossible  as  a  Church  universal.  Out  of  this 
movement,  set  in  motion  by  Constantinus  and  Anselm, 
by  Berengar,  Roscelin,  Abelard,  and  Irnerius,  we  may 
fairly  say  grew  the  Oxford  Reformers  of  the  end  of 
the  twelfth  century;  thereafter,  Roger  Bacon,  Petrarch, 
Dante,  Wickliffe,  Huss,  and,  finally,  the  whole  modern 
spirit  As  heresies  arose,  the  Church  naturally  tried 
to  tighten  its  grip  of  universities,  just  as  the  civil 
power  did  in  the  face  of  political  heresies.  But 
with  occasional  lamentable  defections,  the  history  of 
universities  is  the  history  of  freedom.  The  moment 
monasteries  became  organized,  they  formed  centres 
of  resistance  to  the  tyrannical  exercise  of  feudal 
power,  and  thus  contributed  to  the  growth  of  civil 
freedom  quite  as  much  as  municipalities ;  so,  the 
moment  the  masters  of  learning  became  organized, 
they  formed  potent  centres  of  resistance  to  ecclesi- 
astical, as  well  as  to  civil,  despotism.  They  not  only; 
upheld,  in  the  main,  and  notwithstanding  occasional 
cowardice,  their  own  corporate  rights  of  free  organiza-f 
tion  and   free  thought,  but  they  sent  out  thousands 


1 88       MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

annually  to  every  part  of  Europe  to  fill  the  various  pro- 
fessions, animated  with  some  share  of  the  academic 
spirit,  and  possessed  of  that  virile  independence  of 
mind  which  it  is  one  of  the  chief  objects  of  universities' 
to  promote. 

Whether  or  not  it  will  be  possible  for  universities 
ultimately  to  maintain  their  freedom  under  a  demo- 
cratic social  system,  is  a  grave  question.  The 
tendency  of  the  democratic  spirit  is  certainly  to 
reduce  great  institutions,  whether  they  be  Churches 
or  universities,  to  be  tools  of  dominant  though 
temporary  opinion,  or  servants  of  a  central  bureau.* 
The  importance,  in  the  interests  of  liberty,  of  in- 
stitutions endowed  with  rights  and  privileges  is  apt 
to  be  lost  sight  of  on  the  occasion  of  every  successive 
wave  of  fanaticism.  Fanaticism  is  always  unhistorical : 
it  looks  neither  to  the  past  nor  the  future.  It  has  no 
perspective.  The  present  fills  its  eye  and  shuts  off  all 
else.  The  experience  of  France  is  not  encouraging, 
where,  under  democratic  influences,  the  ancient  uni- 
versity has  become  a  mere  administrative  body  under 
the  direct  control  of  the  state,  and  where  the  pro- 
fessors and  faculties  have  no  independent  powers, 
no  uniting  bond,  no  common  life,  and  where  the  idea 
of  an  autonomous  commonwealth,  or  republic  of 
letters,  has  utterly  disappeared. 

*  Even  in  our  own  days  we  have  seen  a  radical  member  of  Parlia- 
ment propose  to  starve  out  the  head  of  a  university  because  he  did  not 
agree  with  him  on  some  passing,  but  exciting,  question  of  educational 
politics  1 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  UNIVERSITIES.  189 

To  sum  up :  like  the  guilds  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
the  university  communities  were  republics,  the  nations 
being  the  primary  source  of  power  as  regards  disci- 
pline and  privilege,  and  the  masters  as  regards  studies. 
They  freely  elected  their  own  rulers  and  judges,  and, 
as  we  shall  shortly  see,  examined  and  promoted  their 
own  apprentices.  They  regulated  their  own  studies 
and  their  whole  inner  policy.  At  Paris,  however, 
the  "  masters  "  were  the  true  source  of  power.  At 
Bologna  and  Padua  the  case  was  very  different,  but 
it  was  to  the  too  democratic  constitution  of  Bologna, 
combined  with  the  municipal  narrow-mindedness 
which  gave  a  preference  to  natives  in  granting  the 
doctorship,  that  Bologna  owed  its  fall.  Even  the 
Paris  constitution,  in  which  a  governing  body  of 
rector,  procurators,  and  ultimately,  also,  deans  of 
faculty,  were  elected  by  the  members  of  the  university, 
may  seem  democratic  enough.  But  lest  any  one 
should  think  of  drawing  an  argument  from  the  Paris 
constitution  in  favour  of  larger  powers  being  given 
to  the  graduates  of  our  modern  universities  than 
they  now  have,  I  would  point  out  that  the  masters 
who  elected  the  university  governors  were  all  engaged 
in  the  business  of  teaching  or  administration.  The 
Parisian  magistri  non-regentes  had,  however,  a  voice 
in  important  deliberations ;  at  least  this  is  to  be  in- 
ferred from  the  assembly  called  in  1259  to  consider 
the  pope's  order  to  admit  members  of  certain  monastic 
orders  and  the  scholars  they  examined  and  promoted, 


190      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

to  the  privileges  of  university  teachers.  But  it  was 
only  when  specially  called  that  the  magistri  non- 
regentes  took  part  in  the  assemblies,  and  a  rule  to  this 
effect  was  made  in  13 1 5,  at  Paris.  In  the  Universities 
of  Prague  and  Vienna — the  earliest  universities,  ex- 
cept Palentia  and  Naples,  formally  founded  (ab  initio) 
— the  source  of  government  was  more  and  more 
restricted  to  the  faculties  and  the  masters  actually 
engaged  in  university  work. 

As  it  was  in  Paris  so  it  was  in  Cambridge,  and 
indeed  all  universities,  with  some  modifications. 
Dean  Peacock  (as  quoted  by  Mullinger)  says,  "  The 
enactments  of  these  statutes  would  lead  us  to  conclude 
that  in  the  earliest  ages  of  the  university  the  regents 
alone,  as  forming  the  acting  body  of  academical  teachers 
and  readers,  were  authorized  to  form  rules  for  the 
regulation  of  the  terms  of  admission  to  the  regency, 
as  well  as  for  the  general  conduct  of  the  system  of 
education  pursued,  and  for  the  election  of  the  various 
officers  who  were  necessary  for  the  administration  of 
their  affairs.  We  consequently  find  that  if  a  regent 
ceased  to  read,  he  immediately  became  an  alien  to 
the  governing  body,  and  could  only  be  admitted  to 
resume  the  functions  and  exercise  the  privileges  of 
the  regency  after  a  solemn  act  of  resumption,  accord- 
ing to  prescribed  forms,  and  under  the  joint  sanction 
of  the  chancellor  of  the  university  and  of  the  house 
of  regents.  The  foundation,  however,  of  colleges  and 
halls  towards  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  and  beginning 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  UNIVERSITIES.  191 

of  the  fourteenth  century,  as  well  as  the  establishment 
of  numerous  monasteries  within  the  limits  of  the 
university,  with  a  view  to  participation  in  its  franchises 
and  advantages,  increased  very  greatly  the  number 
of  permanent  residents  in  the  university,  who  had 
either  ceased  to  participate  in  the  labours  of  the 
regency,  or  who  were  otherwise  occupied  with  the 
discharge  of  the  peculiar  duties  imposed  upon  them 
by  the  statutes  of  their  own  societies.  The  operation 
of  these  causes  produced  a  body  of  non-regents,  con- 
tinually increasing  in  number  and  importance,  who 
claimed  and  exercised  a  considerable  influence  in  the 
conduct  of  those  affairs  of  the  university  which  were 
not  immediately  connected  with  the  proper  function 
of  the  regency ;  and  we  consequently  find  that  at 
the  period  when  our  earliest  existing  statutes  were 
framed,  the  non-regents  were  recognized  as  forming 
an  integrant  body  in  the  constitution  of  the  university, 
as  the  house  of  non-regents ■,  exercising  a  concurrent 
jurisdiction  with  the  house  of  regents  in  all  questions 
relating  to  the  property,  revenues,  public  rights,  privi- 
leges, and  common  good  of  the  university.  Under 
certain  circumstances,  also,  they  participated  with  the 
regents  in  the  elections  ;  they  were  admitted  likewise 
to  the  congregations  of  the  regents,  though  not 
allowed  to  vote ;  and  in  some  cases  the  two  houses 
were  formed  into  one  assembly,  which  deliberated 
in  common  upon  affairs  which  were  of  great  public 
moment" 
15 


192      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

Even  to  the  most  republican  academic  mind  of 
mediaeval  times,  the  suggestion  which  we  see  made 
in  these  days  in  Scotland,  that  university  governors 
should  be  chosen  by  graduates  scattered  all  over  the 
world,  who  are  engaged  in  pursuits  which  make  it  im- 
possible for  them  to  maintain  acquaintance  with  the 
circumstances  and  needs  of  their  alma  mater,  would 
have  seemed,  as  it  unquestionably  is,  supremely  ridicu- 
lous. Such  a  system  could  have  only  one  result,  the 
handing  over  of  the  graduate  vote  to  a  few  non- 
regents  resident  at  the  university  seats.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  has  to  be  admitted  that  the  professors  or 
acting-masters  are  now  so  few  in  number,  and  have 
so  strong  an  interest  in  perpetuating  what  is  for 
their  own  advantage,  with  which  it  is  always  easy 
for  human  nature  to  identify  the  general  academic 
welfare,  that  it  is  not  for  the  public  interest  that  they 
should  exercise  more  than  a  restricted  power  in  the 
government.  In  searching  for  a  governing  body, 
accordingly,  we  cannot  well  do  better  than  base 
it  on  university  citizenship  generally,  provided  we 
secure  for  the  teaching  body  (magistri  actu  regent es) 
sufficient,  though  not  necessarily  predominant,  power, 
and  above  all  include  representatives  of  the  Crown. 
For  I  would  point  out  that  universities  do  not  exist 
for  the  localities  in  which  they  are  situated,  but  for 
the  nation  and  the  empire. 

My  conviction  is  that  if  the  power  of  the  pro- 
fessorial faculties,  sitting  as  a  senate  or  consortium 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  UNIVERSITIES.  193 

magistrorum,  were  not  felt,  as  it  is  now  in  Scotland, 
in  every  part  of  the  body  academic,  especially  in  the 
organization  of  studies  and  in  examinations,  the  uni- 
versities would  soon  degenerate  into  mere  examining 
boards,  and  the  professors  be  degraded  into  tutors. 
There  would  thus  be  revived  the  old  regenting,  the 
abolition  of  which  was  the  beginning  of  the  philo- 
sophic and  scientific  life  of  our  northern  universities 
more  than  1 50  years  ago. 

The  Scottish  universities  are  now,  it  is  interesting 
to  note,  the  only  true  continuators  of  the  mediaeval 
organization,  for  they  recognize  the  following  elements 
as  constituting  the  "university" :  (1)  the  students,  (2) 
the  graduates  (or  magistri  non-regentes),  (3)  the  pro- 
fessors (or  magistri  regentes),  (4)  the  rector,  and  (5)  the 
chancellor.  The  supreme  governing  body  is  the  Court, 
but  the  body  which  practically  governs — the  Court 
having  only  carefully  defined  and  restricted  powers — 
is  the  Senatus  Academicus ;  in  other  words,  the 
principal  and  the  professors  of  the  four  faculties.  The 
Court,  again,  draws  its  members  from  the  students, 
who  elect  a  rector  to  be  head  of  the  Court,  he 
further  appointing  an  assessor;  from  the  Senatus, 
whose  principal  sits  in  the  Court,  ex  officio^  and  is 
accompanied  by  a  representative  of  the  Senatus  ;  from 
the  general  body  of  graduates,  called  the  "  Council,'1 
who  elect  an  assessor;  and  from  the  Chancellor 
who   elects   an   assessor,  but  does  not  himself  sit* 

*  In   Edinburgh,   owing   to  the    traditionary  connection    of   the 


194     MEPIMVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

Any  reform  of  the  supreme  governing  and  appellate 
court  that  would  give  it  increased  powers,  must,  of 
course,  be  preceded  by  increasing  its  numbers  and 
influence.  This  can  best  be  done  by  increasing  the 
representatives  of  the  various  constituent  elements 
of  the  university  already  recognized,  adding  Crown 
nominees  in  the  general  interests  of  the  state.  To 
admit  representatives  of  "public  bodies"  is  the  be- 
ginning of  the  end  as  regards  the  free  and  republican 
character  of  universities.  Alien  government  would 
destroy  entirely  the  Universitas  and  convert  it  into 
a  college.  Better  that  our  old  universities  should 
become  a  department  of  State  at  once  than  accept 
such  degradation.  But  let  the  "  people  H  bear  in  mind 
that  a  "  department  of  State  "  is  only  another  name 
for  a  political  instrument.  The  autonomy  of  uni- 
versities is  of  more  importance  to  the  future  liberties 
of  our  country  than  the  autonomy  of  muncipalities. 

university  with  the  municipality,  the  provost  of  the  city  and  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  town  council  are  also  members.  The  Scottish  university 
constitution  will  be  seen  to  be  a  remarkable  survival  of  mediaeval 
organization* 


LECTURE  XL 

STUDENTS,  THEIR  NUMBERS  AND  DISCIPLINE — 
PRIVILEGES  OF  UNIVERSITIES — FACULTIES. 

WHEN  one  hears  of  the  large  number  of  students  who  * 
attended  the  earliest  universities — 10,000,  and  even 
20,000  at  Bologna,  an  equal,  and  at  one  time,  a 
greater,  number  at  Paris,  and  30,000  at  Oxford — one 
cannot  help  thinking  that  the  numbers  have  been  ex- 
aggerated. There  is  certainly  evidence  that  the  Oxford 
attendance  was  never  so  great  as  has  been  alleged  (see 
Anstey's  "  Mon.  Acad.") ;  but  when  we  consider  that 
attendants,  servitors,  college  cooks,  etc.,  were  regarded 
as  members  of  the  university  community,  and  that  the 
universities  provided  for  a  time  the  sole  recognized 
training-grounds  for  those  wishing  to  enter  the  ecclesi- 
astical, or  legal,  or  teaching  professions,  I  see  no  reason 
to  doubt  the  substantial  accuracy  of  the  tradition  as 
to  attendance, — especially  when  we  remember  that  at 
Paris  and  Oxford  a  large  number  were  mere  boys  of 
from  twelve  to  fifteen  years  of  age. 

The  chief  objection  to  accepting  the  tradition  lies 
in  the  difficulty  of  seeing  how  in  those  days  so  large 


196      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

a  number  of  the  youth  of  Europe  could  afford  the 
expense  of  residence  away  from  their  homes.  This 
difficulty,  however,  is  partly  removed  when  we  know 
that  many  of  the  students  were  well  to  do,  that  a 
considerable  number  were  matured  men,  already 
monks  and  canons,  and  that  the  endowments  of 
cathedral  schools  also  were  frequently  used  to  enable 
promising  scholars  to  attend  foreign  universities.* 
Monasteries  also  regularly  sent  boys  of  thirteen  and 
fourteen  to  the  university  seats.  A  papal  instruction 
°f  1335  required  every  Benedictine  and  Augustinian 
community  to  send  boys  to  the  universities  in  the 
proportion  of  one  in  twenty  of  their  residents.  Then, 
State  authorities  ordered  free  passages  for  all  who 
were  wending  their  way  to  and  from  the  seats  of 
learning.  In  the  houses  of  country  priests — not  to 
speak  of  the  monastery  hospitia — travelling  scholars 
were  always  accommodated  gratuitously,  and  even 
local  subscriptions  were  frequently  made  to  help  them 
on  their  way.  Poor  travelling  scholars  were,  in  fact, 
a  mediaeval  institution,  and  it  was  considered  no  dis- 
grace for  a  student  to  beg  and  receive  alms  for  his 
support.  One  result  of  this  was,  as  might  have  been 
expected,  the  production  of  a  large  number  of  tramps 
who  called  themselves  students,  and  who  wandered 
about  over  Europe  and  lived  on  the  charitable.  They 
were  little  better  than  sturdy  beggars  and  idle  vaga- 

*  lam  disposed  to  think  that  guild  funds  were  also  sometimes  so 
applied. 


PRIVILEGES  AND  FACULTIES.  197 

bonds,  and  as  such  gave  no  small  trouble  to  the 
monasteries  and  towns  and  villages  at  which  they 
halted.* 

I  cannot  find  that  in  the  first  two  centuries  of 
universities,  before  the  foundation  of  colleges,  students 
were  under  very  strict  discipline.  They  were  under 
surveillance,  however  ;  they  had  to  attach  themselves 
to  some  magister,  and  breaches  of  university  rules 
were  sharply  punished  by  the  rector.  Then  the 
larger  "  nations  "  were  composed  of  numerous  smaller 
sections,  which  had  their  own  officials,  matriculation- 
books  and  money-chests,  and  the  hostels  or  boarding- 
houses  of  these  nations  had  a  "  master  "  as  superinten- 
dent. There  were  certainly  many  scandals  and 
much  licence — especially,  of  course,  among  those  who 
frequented  Paris  and  Bologna  and  Oxford  without 
a  serious  purpose  of  study.  It  is  this  class  now  which 
alone  gives  trouble  to  university  authorities,  and 
causes,  I  presume,  the  maintenance  at  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  of  rules  and  restrictions  originally  framed 
for  little  boys  or  licentious  youths.  It  was  for  dis- 
ciplinary, as  well  as  for  literary  and  charitable  objects, 
that  colleges  within  the  universities  subsequently  arose. 

It  is  interesting  and  instructive,  in  this  connection, 
to  recall  the  discipline  of  Rome  (and  doubtless  also 
of  Constantinople)   under  imperial   rule.     The  edict 

*  Events  repeat  themselves.  Valentinian  had  to  issue  an  edict 
directed  against  pseudo-philosophers  who  frequented  the  larger  provincial 
towns  in  the  end  of  the  fourth  century — the  wandering  sophists.  Our 
modern  tramp,  too,  is  always  a  respectable  artisan,  "  in  search  of  work." 


198      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

of  Valentinian,  issued  in  370,  makes  more  explicit  a 
system  which  had  existed  in  more  or  less  force  for 
250  years.  This  edict  (Theod.  Cod.,  xiv.  tit.  ix.),  brief 
as  it  is,  may  be  said  to  constitute  the  complete  corpus 
of  university  statutes  of  imperial  times.  It  first  re- 
quires that  the  young  student  shall  bring  with  him 
from  a  provincial  judge  or  the  rector  of  a  province 
a  certificate  of  character  and  of  his  age  and  country, 
which  shall  be  presented  to  the  Magister  Census. 
This  is  equivalent  to  our  modern  matriculation.  He 
must  distinctly  state  what  studies  he  means  to  pursue, 
and  enter  himself  for  these.  The  censor  is  required  to 
keep  a  record  of  lodgings,  and  to  see  that  they  are  fit 
places  for  young  lads  to  live  in  :  he  is  also  to  keep 
an  eye  on  their  conduct  and  .their  associates,  and  see 
that  they  do  not  too  much  frequent  public  places  of 
amusement,  or  convivial  entertainments.  If  a  student 
misconducts  himself,  he  is  to  be  flogged  and  put  on 
board  a  ship  and  sent  to  his  parents.  None  are  allowed 
to  continue  their  studies  beyond  their  twentieth  year, 
at  which  age  they  have  to  return  to  their  homes* 
Monthly  inquiries  are  to  be  made  at  the  residences 
of  the  students,  and  an  annual  report  sent  to  the 
emperor,  that  he  may  know  the  qualifications  of  each, 
and  judge  "utrum  quandoque  nobis  sint  neces- 
sarii."  This  annual  report  must  have  been  a  powerful 
inducement   to    study,   as   the    commendation   of    a 

*  As  the  study  of  law  extended  over  five  years,  the  students  must 
have  coine  up  very  young. 


PRIVILEGES  AND  FACULTIES,  199 

student  would  lead  to  his  employment  in  the  public 
service.* 

Privileges. — I  suppose  China  and  Athens,  prior 
to  the  Roman  period,  are  the  only  countries  which, 
recognizing  the  importance  of  education,  yet  made 
no  provision  for  it  by  way  of  either  endowment  or 
privilege.  The  former  relied,  and  continues  to  rely, 
on  State  examinations,  which,  if  passed,  bring  State 
employment  and  social  position  to  an  extent  not 
dreamt  of  by  the  student  of  the  empire  or  of  me- 
diaeval times  ;  the  latter  relied  on  the  public  spirit  of 
the  citizens  and  the  supervision  of  the  court  of  the 
Areopagus.  In  the  former  case  the  result  is  what 
we  see ;  in  the  latter,  the  "  adventure "  system  suc- 
ceeded because  of  the  restricted  field,  the  genius  of 
the  Hellenic  race,  and  peculiarly  favourable  conditions. 

Like  many  of  the  characteristics  of  the  earliest 
universities,  the  privileges  conferred  had  their  parallel 
in  ancient  laws  or  customs.  Among  privileges  I  may 
include  fixed  salaries  paid  by  the  State.  Vespasian  is 
held  to  have  been  the  first  who  ordered  to  be  paid 
out  of  the  public  treasury  f  salaries  to  professors  at 

*  Justinian  also  held  out  this  inducement.  His  words  were  (Prooem. 
Instit),  "  Summa  igitur  ope  et  alacri  studio  has  leges  nostras  accipite  ; 
et  vosmetipsos  sic  eruditos  ostendite  ut  spes  vos  pulcherrima  foveat,  toto 
legitimo  opere  perfecto,  posse  etiam  nostram  rempublicam  in  partibus 
ejus  vobis  credendis  gubernari." 

t  The  payment  made  to  Quintilian  prior  to  this  was  rather,  I  think, 
of  the  nature  of  a  pension,  out  of  what  we  should  call  the  "  privy  purse." 
See,  however,  the  reference  to  Grafenhahn  in  Lecture  I. 


2CO     MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

Rome,  and  in  the  more  important  provincial  towns. 
Successive  emperors  confirmed  and  extended  this  law, 
doubtless  originally  suggested  by  the  constitution  of 
the  Ptolemaic  schools  of  Alexandria.  Gratian,  so 
late  as  A.D.  376,  also  issued  an  edict  regarding  the 
salaries  of  professors  (annonce,  stipendia,  salaria). 

If  not  at  the  time  of  Vespasian,  certainly  not 
long  after,  immunities  were  also  granted.  The  Medici 
and  the  professors  of  liberal  arts,  who  taught  in  the 
Roman  Capitol  and  large  provincial  towns,  were 
exempted  from  imperial  taxes,  from  service  in  war, 
and  from  discharging  municipal  duties  except  when 
they  were  desirous  to  do  so.  These  privileges  were,  of 
course,  extended  to  the  University  of  Constantinople. 
Constantine,  in  his  edict  of  A.D.  321,  continues  and 
confirms  past  privileges  as  they  had  existed  in  all 
parts  of  the  empire  {vide  Theod.  Cod.,  iii.  tit.  iii.  l). 
He  also  protects  professors  from  all  insult  and  injury 
by  the  threat  of  severe  fines  to  be  imposed  on 
offenders.  These  privileges  and  immunities  extended 
to  the  persons  and  property  of  the  wives  and  children. 
In  the  West,  senatorial  rank  was  frequently,  if  not 
indeed  always,  conferred  on  the  professors  of  the 
Capitol.  The  object  of  conferring  such  privileges  is  well 
summed  up  in  the  Theodosian  Code,  iii.  3  (A.D.  333), 
in  the  following  words :  "  Quo  facilius  liberalibus 
studiis  et  memoratis  artibus  multos  instituant." 

When  Christianity  was  recognized  by  Constantine, 
he  extended  these  academic  privileges  to  the  new 


PRIVILEGES  AND  FACULTIES.  201 

nation  of  the  Clerus.  "  The  whole  body  of  the  Catholic 
clergy,"  says  Gibbon,  c.  xx.  (and  I  may  add  this  in- 
cluded servitors  in  churches),  "  more  numerous  perhaps 
than  the  legions,  was  exempted  from  all  service  private 
or  public,  all  municipal  offices,  and  all  personal  taxes 
and  contributions  which  pressed  on  .  their  fellow- 
citizens  with  intolerable  weight,  and  the  duties  of 
their  holy  profession  were  accepted  as  a  full  discharge 
of  their  obligations  to  the  republic."  Thus  the 
immunities  of  the  learned  class  passed,  but  in  a 
more  extended  form,  to  the  clerical. 

These  privileges  of  the  Clerus  continued  through- 
out the  Middle  Ages,  and  still  to  some  extent  survive. 
When  the  new  universities,  i.e.y  communities  of  teachers 
and  scholars,  arose,  most  of  the  former  already  be- 
longed to  the  clergy,  and  it  was  natural,  on  this  and 
on  other  grounds,  that  they  should  assume  clerical 
privileges  for  the  whole  body  of  scholars,  with  the 
expectation  that  the  assumption  would  pass  un- 
questioned or  be  confirmed  by  pope  or  prince  at  some 
future  time.  To  what  extent  the  clergy  as  individuals 
were  free  from  taxes  in  the  twelfth  century  I  do  not 
know  ;  but  the  chief  privilege,  which  covered  many 
minor  ones,  was  the  right  of  internal  jurisdiction, 
which  had  gradually  been  acquired  under  the  canon 
law,  though  not  originally  contemplated  by  the  Roman 
emperors  either  of  the  East  or  West.  We  are  in  these 
days  naturally  surprised  that  such  things  should  be 
possible  as  the  exercise  of  civil  and  criminal  jurisdic- 


2C2      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

tion  over  the  students  by  university  authorities.  But 
when  we  realize  that  the  guilds  frequently  exercised 
a  similar  authority  over  their  members,  and  could 
interpose  their  protection  against  the  interference  of 
either  municipal  or  feudal  authority,  we  should  rather 
be  surprised  if  the  new  guild  of  scholars  and  teachers 
had  not  laid  claim  to  those  privileges  of  internal 
government  which  they  saw  existing  both  in  guilds 
and  in  monastic  orders,  and  in  the  Church  generally. 
"  In  the  Middle  Ages,"  says  Freeman,*  "  every  class 
of  men,  every  district,  every  city,  tried  to  isolate  itself 
within  a  jurisprudence  of  its  own." 

The  word  "  clericus  "  was  accordingly  applied,  not 
merely  to  the  ministers  of  the  Church  and  those  in 
preparation  for  the  ministry,  but  to  all  educated 
persons.  Cleric  or  clerk  was  opposed,  not  to  the 
laity,  but  to  the  illiterate  laity.  A  simple  deacon 
or  monk  was,  as  such,  not  a  priest.f  For  the  in- 
struction of  the  laity  during  the  Middle  Ages,  as  we 
have  seen,  little  was  done,  or,  indeed,  could  be  done. 
"  Benefit  of  clergy  "  meant  the  right  to  be  judged  by  an 
ecclesiastical  tribunal.  Accordingly,  when  students 
obtained  the  privilege  of  being  judged  by  the  uni- 
versity authorities  alone,  this  was  merely  a  natural 
extension  of  a  practice  already  existing  within  the 
ecclesiastical  order.     Frederic  of  Barbarossa  granted, 

*  "  Historical  Essays,"  1st  series,  p.  108. 

t  Thomas  a  Becket  was  not  a  priest  till  he  was  appointed  to  the 
primacy. 


PRIVILEGES  AND  FACULTIES.  203 

in  1 158,  to  all  students,  wherever  they  were,  the  right 
to  be  judged  coram  domino  aut  magistro  suo  vel  ipsins 
civitatis  episcopo,  and  this  privilege  was  further  ex- 
tended even  to  the  postal  messengers  of  students. 
Thus,  curiously  enough,  privileges  originally  con- 
ferred on  scholars  had  passed  to  the  Church,  and 
having  been  aggrandized  in  its  hands,  returned  again 
to  scholars.* 

Faculties. — The  word  "  faculty"  has  been  sometimes 
regarded  with  a  feeling  amounting  to  superstition,  and 
this  even  by  university  reformers.  It  primarily  means 
"the  power  of  doing  something."  To  this  day,  in 
the  Church  of  England,  a  vicar  or  rector  has  to 
obtain  a  "  faculty "  from  his  ecclesiastical  superiors 
to  effect  certain  changes.  The  word,  in  this  ecclesi- 
astical application,  is  equivalent  to  dispensation. 
The  word  "  faculty  "  was  originally  used  (in  mediaeval 
times)  as  equivalent  to  knowledge,  also  as  equivalent 
to  study  with  a  view  to  special  knowledge,  and  further 
it  was  applied  to  any  subject  of  study.  In  Frederick 
II.'s  Neapolitan  statutes,  those  who  mean  to  be  merely 
surgeons,  and  not  mediciy  are  ordered  to  attend  for 
one  year  the  masters  qui  chirurgice  facultatem  in- 
struunty  which  I  translate  as  "who  instruct  in  the 
knowledge  of  chirurgy." 

*  As  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  Middle  Ages  the  Roman  provincials, 
and  the  population  of  Teutonic  origin,  frequently  lived  in  the  same  town, 
each  under  its  own  laws  (Savigny),  the  separate  jurisdiction  of  universities 
would  not  appear  to  contemporaries  so  inconsistent  with  social  order  as 
it  does  to  us. 


204      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

In  later  times  the  word  was  used  to  denote  a 
specific  body  within  the  university.  Sir  W.  Hamilton 
defines  ("  Discussions,"  p.  490)  a  "faculty"  as  a  body 
of  teachers  who  had  the  privilege  of  lecturing  on  a 
department  of  knowledge  and  of  examining  in  it. 
In  this  definition  Hamilton  follows  Bulaeus.  Du 
Cange  more  correctly  defines  it  as  those  teaching  and 
studying  the  same  group  of  subjects.  And  it  is  so 
we  now  popularly  regard  it. 

Until  some  time  after  the  bull  of  Gregory  IX.,  in 
1231,  what  are  now  known  as  distinct  "faculties" 
were  all  Arts  studies.  The  bull  of  that  year  speaks 
of  the  various  studies,  including  medicine  ;  but  when 
it  uses  the  word  "  faculty "  it  uses  it  as  equivalent 
merely  to  department  of  knowledge.  Medicine  and 
law  were  both  originally  classed  under  the  general 
head  of  "  liberal  arts."  The  masters  of  the  several 
departments  of  study,  however,  had  been  in  the  habit 
of  meeting  for  business  connected  with  their  depart- 
ment long  before  they  were  recognized  formally  as 
faculties  (just  as  now  happens  in  Edinburgh,  in  the 
department  of  science,  which  is  not  yet  technically  a 
faculty)  ;  and  in  the  "littera  universitatis  "  of  1254,  to 
which  I  have  previously  referred,  the  four  "  faculties  " 
are  named ;  but  not  in  the  sense  of  separate  corpora- 
tions. It  was  the  formal  constitution  of  a  theological 
"faculty"  in  Paris  apart  from  the  arts  faculty,  in 
1259-60,  which  first  led  to  the  separate  incorporation 
of  the  other  faculties  in  that  university.   When  faculties 


PRIVILEGES  AND  FACULTIES.  205 

were  at  last  formally  constituted,  they  were,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  universities  within  a  university. 
Each  elected  its  own  dean,  and  these  deans  thereafter 
sat  as  part  of  the  governing  body,  along  with  the  rector 
and  procurators.  In  1277,  we  first,  in  an  act  of  the 
University  of  Paris,  find  the  words  "  with  the  consent 
of  the  four  faculties."  By  that  time  each  had  its  dean 
and  seal.  The  medical  faculty  had  a  dean  in  1265 — 
always  the  senior  doctor  till  1338,  after  which  the  Dean 
was  an  elected  officer. 

The  rise  of  faculties  naturally  broke  up  the  republi- 
can organization  as  based  on  "  nations  "  exclusively, 
but  that  organization  never  at  any  time  controlled  the 
"masters"  in  Paris  to  the  extent  which  it  did  in  Bologna. 
And,  indeed,  in  both  places  the  regulation  of  studies  and 
promotions  was  in  the  hands  of  the  magistri.  Some- 
times there  were  five  faculties^  or  even  six — canon 
law  constituting  a  faculty,  as  distinct  from  civil  law. 
The  only  faculties  generally  recognized  in  Paris  were 
our  traditionary  four.  There  is  no  reason,  however, 
why  there  should  not  be  twenty  faculties  in  a  uni- 
versity. Wherever  the  studies  in  arts  for  a  degree 
are  broken  up  into  specialized  sections,  there  we 
have  a  "faculty,"  whether  we  call  it  by  that  name 
or  not.  In  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  Arts  students 
can  now  graduate  in  half  a  dozen  different  ways.  Each 
of  these  ways  is  really  a  "  faculty  ; "  nay,  we  may 
say  that  each  subject  is  a  faculty.  There  is  no  reason, 
in  the  nature  of  either  things  or  words,  why  we  should 


206      MEDIMVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

not  speak  of  the  "  faculty  of  English,"  or  the  "  faculty 
of  mathematics,"  or  the  "  faculty  of  Latin."  It  may, 
perhaps,  be  better,  however,  in  these  days  to  keep  the 
tiaditional  "four  faculties,"  and  to  institute  as  many 
"  sub-faculties  "  as  the  circumstances  of  a  university 
may  demand.  It  is  an  historical  blunder  to  separate 
the  pure  sciences  from  the  general  designation  "  arts." 
The  words  of  Bulaeus  in  defining  faculty  are, 
Facultatis  vero  nomine  quod  ad  regimen  et  administra- 
tionem  attinet,  intelligimus  corpus  et  sodalitium  pluri- 
morum  magistrorum  certce  alicui  disciplines  addictum 
sine  ulla  distinctione  nationis  (i.  251).  But  he  after- 
wards (iii.  83)  considers  it  essential  to  a  faculty  that  it 
should  have  its  own  seal,  its  own  private  comitia,  and 
a  caput  or  decanus.  Meiners  further  adds  that  the 
essential  prerogative  of  a  faculty  was  the  right  to 
examine  entrants,  and  candidates  for  degrees  in  its 
own  subject  or  group  of  subjects.  But  long  before 
"faculties"  existed  in  any  formal  sense,  examinations 
were  held  and  licences  (or  degrees)  conferred  in  the 
various  differentiated  subjects  of  study.  At  first,  the 
several  masters  of  theology,  or  law,  or  arts  exercised 
the  right  of  examining  and  of  presenting  for  promotion 
aspirants  in  their  respective  departments  (this  right, 
however,  being  on  some  occasions  apparently  shared 
with  the  chancellor),  and  the  informal  coming  together 
of  the  masters  of  a  subject  to  promote  their  candi- 
dates constituted  the  first  germ  of  a  faculty.  The  next 
step  was  for  the  masters  to  meet  to  discuss  matters 


PRIVILEGES  AND  FACULTIES.  207 

affecting  the  studies  in  which  they  were  specially 
interested ;  and  finally,  the  body  of  masters  profess- 
ing a  certain  subject  or  group  of  subjects  formally 
constituted  themselves,  elected  a  dean  or  head,  and 
began'  to  make  statutes,  to  collect  and  hold  fees,  and 
to  act  in  all  respects  as  corporations  or  universitates 
within  the  larger  corporation  of  the  universitas. 

Thus  the  rise  of  faculties  was  closely  connected 
with  the  teaching  and  graduation  system.  Originally 
it  would  appear  that  the  master  who  taught  or  re- 
gented  the  boy-students  also  conferred  on  them  the 
B.A.  degree.  Afterwards,  when  faculties  were  organ- 
ized, it  was  the  privilege  of  each  faculty  to  examine 
their  own  candidates  and  to  confer  the  bachelorship. 
The  faculty  also  examined  and  promoted  its  licen- 
tiates or  masters,  the  Chancellor  being  little  more 
than  the  channel  through  which  their  decision  as  to 
the  fitness  of  a  candidate  was  ceremonially  confirmed 
and  announced. 

I  have  been  speaking  chiefly  of  Paris.  In  Bologna 
it  is  uncertain  at  what  date  the  doctors  of  civil  and 
canon  law  acted  as  separate  bodies  for  purposes  of 
promotion  and  other  business.  They  existed  as 
separate  bodies  in  the  thirteenth  century,  with  the 
designation  of  "  colleges,"  and  were  followed  by  phi- 
losophical, medical,  and  theological  colleges.  These 
colleges,  corresponding  to  the  Parisian  faculties,  con- 
sisted of  the  "  masters  "  alone.  The  head  was  always 
called  "  prior  "  in  Italy,  not  dean. 
16 


208     MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

The  above  statement  exhibits  generally  the  rise 
and  nature  of  faculties.  The  first  separation  of  a 
"faculty"  arose  in  Paris  out  of  a  quarrel.  Regular 
examinations  and  promotions  had  been  in  operation 
in  Paris  for  nearly  a  hundred  years,*  when  the 
Franciscan  and  Dominican  monks  in  1243  demanded 
that  the  pupils  taught  by  them  in  their  cloister  schools, 
and  examined  and  promoted  by  them,  should  be 
admitted  as  members  of  the  university,  and  to  all  its 
privileges.  This  would  seem  to  have  been  an  attempt 
on  the  part  of  what  we  should  in  these  days  call  an 
extramural  school  to  constitute  itself  a  part  of  the 
university,  and  at  the  same  time  to  transfer  theo- 
logical teaching  to  the  hands  of  monks.  The 
pope  supported  the  claim,  and,  in  spite  of  the  strong 
reluctance  of  the  university,  it  had  ultimately  to  yield, 
merely  securing  for  Arts  precedence  in  all  public  acts 
and  ceremonies.  The  monks  then  entered  into  a 
union  with  the  secular  teachers  of  theology,  and, 
forming  with  them  a  separate  body,  elected  a  dean 
as  their  head.  This  movement  to  form  a  "  faculty  "■ 
was  now  strenuously  encouraged  by  the  university 
Arts  masters,  who  were  virtually  already  separated 
into  faculties  of  medicine  and  arts  or  philosophy,  as 
it  more  clearly  distinguished  them  from  the  monkish 
element  in  the  university,  which  they  hated.  But  the 
immediate  result  was  that  the  medical  masters  and 

*  According  to  Meiners  (i.  80) ;  but  the  consolidation  of  the  rules 
for  promotion  occurred  in  121 5. 


PRIVILEGES  AND  FACULTIES.  209 

the  masters  of  canon  law  formed  similar  associations, 
each  electing  its  dean.  The  formation  of  the  theo- 
logical faculty  took  place  in  1259-60,  and  that  of  the 
medical  faculty  must  have  followed  very  closely,  be- 
cause there  existed  a  medical  dean  in  1265,  and  in 
1270  they  inflicted  a  punishment  on  one  of  their 
members  for  the  breach  of  a  statute.  They,  certainly, 
had  a  seal  in  1274.  In  1 271,  the  law  faculty  had  a 
seal.  The  period  1260-70,  then,  may  be  fixed  as  the 
date  of  the  formal  constitution,  but  not  the  rise,  of 
the  three  faculties  of  theology,  law,  and  medicine — 
afterwards  called  the  three  "  higher  "  faculties,  to  dis- 
tinguish them  from  "  arts." 

It  was  not,  however,  till  128 1  that  the  faculties 
were  fully  recognized  in  the  sense  that  their  separate 
acts  were  held  to  be  university  acts. 

The  above  narrative  suggests  to  us  the  question 
of  precedence  among  the  faculties.  If  this  is  to  be 
determined  by  the  date  of  their  origin,  arts  has  a 
strong  claim,  as  it  was  out  of  arts  that  all  the 
specialized  schools  called  universities  grew,  and 
certainly  at  Paris  it  contained  within  itself  the 
specialized  schools  as  artes  liberates  before  there  was 
any  formal  differentiation.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  evidence  we  have  is  in  favour  of  Salernum  as 
being  the  earliest  school  of  a  really  advanced  or 
university  type,*  and  of  Bologna  as  being  at  least 
*  Unless  we  date  the  Paris  University  from  William  of  Champeaux. 


210      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

contemporaneous  with  Paris — law  with  arts.  The- 
ology comes  last  at  Bologna,  that  is  to  say,  as  a 
distinct  school  from  arts  ;  and  this  in  1260.  Ques- 
tions of  precedence  are,  however,  to  be  settled  by 
the  sovereign  or  supreme  authority  from  which  uni- 
versities hold  their  title.  If  we  accept  the  pope  as 
supreme  authority,  we  shall  find  that,  in  the  earliest 
letters  addressed  to  Paris,  he  names  theology  first  and 
(canon)  law  next.  On  the  ground  of  antiquity,  and 
of  its  being  one  of  the  so-called  "  higher "  faculties, 
medicine  should  come  third,  and  arts  last  of  all — the 
studies  in  arts  as  far  as  the  baccalaureateship  (and  for 
theology  the  mastership)  being  for  centuries  regarded 
as  preliminary  to  the  studies  of  the  other  faculties. 
It  might  now,  however,  and  with  historical  truth,  be 
urged  that  the  "arts,"  or,  to  use  the  German  term, 
the  "  philosophical,"  faculty,  may  be  held  to  embrace 
all  studies  that  have  not  necessarily  any  direct  pro- 
fessional bearing — such  as  mathematics,  physics, 
chemistry,  philology,  literature,  philosophy,  biology, 
geology,  history,  political  economy,  etc.,  and  that  they 
thus  occupy  a  higher  position  in  the  temple  of  know- 
ledge than  subjects  directly  practical  or  professional 
in  their  relations.  A  difficulty  would  again,  however, 
here  present  itself.  For  not  only  are  chemistry  and 
botany  and  zoology  regarded  as  part  of  professional 
medical  training,  but  so,  still  more,  are  physiology 
and  anatomy,  which  yet  are  pure  sciences.  Pathology, 
in  its  modern  development,  is  also  a  pure  science. 


PRIVILEGES  AND  FACULTIES.  21 1 

The  institutes  of  law,  again,  is  a  purely  scientific 
study,  but  forms  part,  or  ought  to  form  part,  of  the 
professional  equipment  of  the  practising  barrister. 
To  determine  so  complex  a  question  on  general 
principles  would,  I  suspect,  be  impossible.  His- 
torically, we  can  only  fall  back  on  the  terms  of 
charters  as  issued  by  the  sovereign,  and  on  the  whole 
question  I  would  refer  the  reader  to  the  "  History  of 
the  University  of  Prague  "  {vid.  seq.). 

When  the  organization  reached  maturity,  there 
existed  in  Paris  the  general  body  of  the  four  nations, 
regarded  as  the  Faculty  of  Arts,  constituting,  as  such, 
the  supreme  governing  authority  of  the  university, 
and  to  which  all  students  were  held  to  belong  till 
they  attained  the  mastership  or  doctorship  in  one  of 
the  three  "higher"  faculties,  when  they  seem  to  have 
ceased  to  belong  to  Arts.*  From  the  general  adminis- 
tration of  the  university,  the  higher  faculties  were,  as 
such,  at  first  excluded  ;  but  they  resented  this,  and 
ere  long,  as  I  have  shown,  they  received  a  governing 
position  for  their  deans  side  by  side  with  the  rector 
and  the  procurators  of  nations,  and  carried  on  two 
or  three  centuries  of  discussion  as  to  the  right  of  the 
primary  Faculty  of  Arts  to  four  votes  in  public  as- 
semblies as  representing  the  ancient  four  nations. 
(For  the  final  organization,  see  note  appended  to 
lecture  on  Paris.) 

The  direct  power  of  the  nations  in  the  government 
*  But  this  is  doubtful. 


212       MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

of  the  universities  was,  as  we  see,  seriously  affected  by 
the  constitution  of  faculties  ;  but  before  this,  the  rise 
of  colleges  must  have  had  a  tendency  to  divide  the 
interests  of  members  of  the  same  nation. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  faculties,  it  is  worth 
while  here  to  point  out  that,  when  the  papal  bulls 
authorized  the  institution  of  degrees  "in  quacunque 
licita  facultate,"  this  was  not  done  to  restrict  the  growth 
of  faculties,  but  merely  to  exclude  an  "  illicit "  faculty 
or  study,  such  as  necromancy  and  witchcraft.  Among 
the  autonomous  powers  of  a  university  are  the  consti- 
tuting of  faculties  and  the  institution  of  additional 
regents  or  professors,  except  in  so  far  as  these  powers 
may  have  been  specifically  restricted  by  an  act  of 
State. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  France 
and  Italy  and  England  had  had  considerable  expe- 
rience of  universities.  It  was  in  this  century,  the 
fourteenth,  the  epoch  of  the  first  reformation  and 
revival  of  letters,  that  sovereigns  began  to  see  the 
importance  of  founding  universities  in  their  own  do- 
minions, so  as  to  give  to  them  some  of  the  dignity  of 
learning,  and  to  obviate  the  necessity,  up  till  then  im- 
posed on  their  subjects,  of  travelling  to  distant  coun- 
tries in  order  to  be  trained  for  the  various  professions. 
The  pope  also  was,  for  various  reasons,  glad  of  an 
opportunity  to  lower  the  troublesome  pretensions  of 
Paris.    In  this  century,  accordingly,  fifteen  universities 


PRIVILEGES  AND  FACULTIES.  213 

were  founded.  In  the  fifteenth  century,  twenty-nine. 
Many  of  these  never  rose  above  the  position  of  minor 
colleges,  and  have  since  disappeared.  If  we  wish  to 
see  the  conclusions  to  which  the  academic  mind  of 
Europe  had  been  led,  after  many  fluctuations  and 
intestine  contests,  as  to  the  constitution  and  adminis- 
tration of  universities,  we  cannot  do  better  than  look 
at  the  organization  given  to  the  first  of  the  uni- 
versities which  was  deliberately  founded  after  things 
had  settled  down — that  of  Prague.  Its  organization 
will  also,  I  think,  throw  a  retrospective  light  on  the 
previous  history  and  constitution  of  the  earlier  seats 
of  learning  which  had  gradually  grown  up.* 

*  If  we  had  the  materials,  something  also  might  be  learned  from  the 
original  organization  of  the  University  of  Salamanca  in  Spain,  which 
was  founded  by  Alfonso  VIII.  in  1212-14,  in  Palentia,  and  transferred 
before  1230  to  its  present  seat  by  Alfonso's  grandson.  But  it  is  probable 
that  the  University  of  Naples  has  already  given  us  all  that  Salamanca 
would  yield.1 

1  Denifie  seems  to  regard  Palentia  and  Salamanca  as  quite  separate 
and  independent  erections. 


2i4      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 


LECTURE  XII. 

GRADUATION. 

THIS  is  a  difficult  and  complex  subject,  but  I  shall 
endeavour  to  state,  as  clearly  as  the  subject  admits 
of,  the  conclusions  to  which  I  have  come. 

Graduation  was,  in  the  mediaeval  universities, 
simply  the  conferring  of  a  qualification  and  right  to 
teach  (or,  in  the  case  of  medicine,  to  practise),  given 
after  a  certain  length  of  attendance  at  an  university, 
and  an  examination  conducted  by  those  already  in 
the  position  of  teachers. 

The  earliest  reference  to  a  formal  qualification  for 
the  office  of  instructor  known  to  me  is  contained  in  a 
Valentinian  edict  of  329.  The  immunities  granted  tc 
oratores  and  other  professors  led  to  the  assumption 
of  the  title  by  many  who  wished  to  share  in  the  privi- 
leges of  the  professorial  class,  while  wholly  without 
claim  to  belong  to  it.  These  pseudo-philosophers,  who 
wandered  about  from  one  provincial  city  to  another 
and  gave  themselves  great  airs,  were  to  be  appre- 
hended and  sent  back  to  their  own  countries  "  exceptis 


GRADUATION.  215 

his  qui,  a  probatissimis  adprobati,  ab  hac  debuerunt 
conluvione  secerni."  It  does  not  appear  what  steps 
were  taken  to  give  effect  to  this  decree. 

In  the  Theodosian  Code  the  generic  title  of  all 
higher  teachers  is  "  professor,"  but  as  equivalent  to  this 
we  find  the  words  "magister"  and  "doctor."  In  one 
edict  (Theod.  Cod.,  xiii.  iii.  16)  the  expression  "  pre- 
ceptor "  is  reserved  for  the  professor  of  philosophy, 
the  others  being  designated  Grammatici,  Oratores, 
Rhetores,  Jurisperiti,  etc. 

In  considering  the  subject  of  mediaeval  graduation, 
two  antecedent  customs  furnish  both  a  point  of  de- 
parture and  an  interpretation.  These  are,  first,  that 
certainly  in  the  eleventh  century,  if  not  earlier,  the 
chancellor  of  a  cathedral,  or,  in  his  stead,  the  scho- 
lasticus,  granted  a  licencia  or  facultas  docendu  The 
one  or  the  other  was  the  titular  head  of  the  school.* 
The  conditions  we  do  not  know.  Secondly,  the  mem- 
bers of  a  guild  corporation  were  divided  into  three  dis- 
tinct classes — apprentices,  assistants  or  companions,  and 
masters.  These  assistants  were  in  France  frequently 
called  gar  cons  or  compagnons  de  devoir.  As  a  general 
rule,  the  gallons  were  not  admitted  to  the  grade 
of  "  master "  until  they  had  performed  some  special 
task   assigned   to   them,  during  the   performance   of 

*  Sometimes  the  archdeacon.  At  what  date  I  do  not  know,  but 
certainly  before  1150,  the  chancellor  or  scholasticus  was  compelled  to 
grant  the  licence  to  all  competent  persons.  How  the  "competency" 
was  determined  does  no'c  appear. 


216      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

which  they  were  kept  apart  from  their  fellows.  It 
was  only  if  this  chef  d'ceuvre  was  found  satisfactory 
that  they  were  installed  as  master — a  ceremony  which 
was  generally  followed  by  a  banquet.  The  gargon 
who  obtained  his  mastership  obtained  thereby  for 
the  first  time  freedom  to  exercise  his  trade  or  craft, 
and  all  the  rights  of  a  member  of  the  guild. 

Let  us  consider  now  what  the  specific  function  of 
universities  was,  and  we  shall  be  at  once  struck  by 
the  analogy  of  their  inner  constitution  with  that  of 
the  guilds. 

In  their  beginnings  the  aim  of  the  young  commu- 
nities, at  Salernum,  Bologna,  and  Paris,  was  simply 
to  instruct  those  who  wished  to  practise  medicine, 
law,  or  theology.  There  were  no  specific  titles.  At 
Salernum  the  student  went  forth  to  the  world  simply 
as  a  medicus,  as  he  did  in  the  imperial  times.  When 
the  organization  became  more  settled  a  formal  ex- 
amination had  to  be  passed.*  The  teachers  were 
called  sometimes  magistrit  sometimes  doctores,  these 
terms  being  quite  generically  used,  and  not  yet  being 
confined  to  teachers  who  had  graduated.  Frederick 
in  1224  statutes  "imprimis  quod  in  civitate  predicta 
(Naples)  doctors  et  magistri  erunt  in  qualibet  facul- 
tate."  Master  and  doctor  are  still  in  this  statute  used 
generically,  and  they  were  to  be  found,  as  a  matter  of 

*  I  am  not  aware  that  any  candidates  who  had  fulfilled  the  require- 
ments as  to  attendance  and  study  and  were  recommended  by  their 
master  were  ever  "  plucked." 


GRADUATION.  217 

course,  in  every  faculty  as  it  arose.  Even  the  licentiate 
of  the  faculty  of  theology  was  long  known  simply  as 
"master,"  not  "doctor,"  in  England  as  well  as  on 
the  continent  of  Europe.  Just  as  the  mastership  in 
a  guild  conferred  freedom  to  practise,  so  the  form 
which  the  certificate  of  completed  study  took  in 
Salernum  was  a  licencia  medendi.  But  as  these 
medici  were  then  held  to  be  "masters"  in  their  art, 
they  constantly  carried  with  them  into  ordinary  life 
the  title  of  "  magister,"  just  as  in  these  days  a 
B.M.  or  CM.  is  popularly  called  a  "  doctor."  In 
Bologna  the  teachers  were  called  "doctores."  In 
Paris,  again,  and  in  England  they  were  called  "magis- 
tri."  As  the  various  faculties  differentiated  them- 
selves, the  term  "magister"  became  ultimately  con- 
fined to  arts,  and  "doctor"  was  assigned  to  those  who, 
having  completed  their  art  studies  (usually  at  the  age 
of  twenty-one),  had  further  qualified  in  the  special 
studies  of  theology,  law,  or  medicine.  But  to  reach  so 
advanced  an  organization  as  this  required  a  century 
and  a  half.  The  various  universities,  being  familiar 
with  each  other's  practices,  gradually  borrowed  the 
one  from  the  other.  The  University  of  Paris,  how- 
ever, led  the  rest  of  Europe,  and  generally  had  its 
authority  recognized  without  question,  as  the  mother 
of  universities.* 

When  a  formal  recognition  crowned  the  student's 
course,  the  guild  practice  ruled  at  Paris,  as  we  have 
*  Although  in  France  itself  Bologna  had  more  influence  than  Paris. 


/ 


218      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

said  it  did  at  Naples  and  Salernum  ;  for  the  ceremony 
was  simply  the  granting  of  a  licencia  docendi*  in  other 
words,  conferring  the  freedom  of  a  craft.  It  is  true 
that  in  Paris  the  induction  into  the  "mastership" 
was  distinct  from  that  of  obtaining  the  licence,  but 
the  licence  conveyed  the  right  to  the  mastership. 
There  was  no  fresh  trial  for  the  title  of  "  magister ; " 
it  was  merely  a  formal  admission  by  the  other  masters 
into  their  body — the  ceremonial  of  investing  with  cap 
and  gown,  followed  by  some  festivity.  Here,  again, 
the  guild  installations  seem  to  have  largely  influenced 
university  practice.f 

Further,  the  trial  for  the  licence  or  mastership, 
by  public  disputations  against  all  comers  in  presence 
of  the  other  masters  of  the  university,  was  analogous 
to  the  chef  d'oeavre  that  the  aspirant  to  the  mastership 
of  a  craft  had  to  submit  to  the  judgment  of  the  jurors 
of  his  craft. 

Our  position  is  further  illustrated  by  the  minor  title 
or  degree  which  had  arisen  at  Paris — Baccalaurens 
Artium.  The  "Arts"  schools  seem,  in  university 
towns,  to  have  been  gradually  absorbed  into  the 
university  organization,  which,  indeed,  itself  originally 
either  grew  out  of  them  or  in  connection  with  them. 

*  I  am  not  awasre  that  the  Salernitan  wor  is  licencia  medcndi  were 
used  at  Paris. 

t  Albertus  Magnus  was  thirty-five  years  of  age  before  he  was 
"doctored"  by  the  University  of  Paris  in  1 228,  but  this  was  a  special 
case,  and  probably  simply  an  honorary  admission  to  the  body  of  theolo- 
gical teachers. 


GRADUATION.  219 

Boys  from  all  parts  attended  the  Magistri  Artium  of 
the  Parisian  University  merely  for  instruction  in  the 
old  trivium — grammar,  rhetoric,  and  dialectic ;  and 
after  three  or  four  years'  study,  they  received  the  title 
of  Baccalaureus.  In  Bologna  and  Salernum  the  pre- 
paratory or  "  trivial "  instruction  was  so  much  subor- 
dinated to  the  specialized  function  of  these  seats  of 
learning  that,  for  a  time  at  least,  no  occasion  arose 
for  marking  the  completion  of  it  by  a  degree.  In 
Paris,  on  the  other  hand,  the  university  rose  more 
directly  out  of  the  school  of  "arts,"  and  continued 
to  comprise  in  its  recognized  academic  work  the  in- 
struction of  boys.  Quite  naturally,  accordingly,  there 
arose  a  necessity  for  marking  the  completion  of  the 
old  trivial  course.  The  word  baccalaureus  naturally 
presented  itself.  The  original  of  the  word  seems 
to  have  been  baccalarius,  and  this  is  said  to  be 
derived  from  the  low  Latin,  bacca  (for  vacca),  a 
cow.  Accordingly,  it  originally  meant  a  cowboy 
or  herd,  serving  under  a  farmer.  This  history  of 
the  word  curiously  illustrates  the  analogy  of  the 
organization  of  universities  with  that  of  trade  guilds. 
For  in  France,  where  the  term  was  first  applied,  the 
youth  who  had  finished  his  apprenticeship  was  called 
(as  we  have  already  stated)  garcon,  and  might  receive 
pay  as  an  assistant  to  a  master.  So  also  the  ap- 
prenticeship to  the  trivium  being  finished,  the  youth 
was  formally  presented  to  the  faculty,  and  recog- 
nized as  a  gargon  or  Baccalarius  Artium,  i.e.  as  a 


220      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

young  man  serving  under  masters  with  a  view  to  the 
mastership.  When  he  reached  this  stage,  which  he 
generally  did  about  the  age  of  seventeen  or  eighteen, 
he  then  began  to  study  for  the  mastership,  and  was 
often  (if  not  indeed  always  in  Paris  and  Bologna) 
employed  as  an  assistant  to  the  master  in  preparing 
other  bachelors  or  (as  we  may  call  them)  arts'  ap- 
prentices. The  bachelorship  had,  it  seems  to  me,  a 
prospective  rather  than  a  retrospective  significance ; 
that  is  to  say,  it  did  not  so  much  mark  a  course 
finished  as  "inception  in  arts"  with  a  view  to  a 
mastership.  The  bachelor,  in  short,  was  only  now 
entitled  to  say  that  he  was  a  "  youth  in  arts." 

It  was  only  later  that  the  word,  through  a 
mistaken  etymology,  became  baccalaurens,  and  was 
supposed  to  have  connection  with  the  laurel-berry, 
and  graduation  was  called  laureation.  In  chivalry 
the  word  "bachelor"  was  also  used,  but  not  in  the 
same  sense.* 

The  word  "  bachalarius  "  was  adopted  by  Bologna 
only  in  the  course  of  the  thirteenth  century.     In  1297 

*  "An  honorary  distinction  was  made,"  says  Ilallam  (cap.  ix. 
partii.),  "between  knights-bannerets  and  bachelors.  The  former  were 
the  richest  and  best  accompanied.  No  man  could  be  a  banneret  unless 
he  possessed  a  certain  estate,  and  could  bring  a  certain  number  of 
lances  into  the  field."  But  a  knight-bachelor  might  hold  higher 
military  command  under  the  Crown  than  a  knight-banneret.  It  is 
unnecessary  to  point  out  that  "  bachelor "  is  used  in  our  own  early 
literature  to  denote  a  young  man  simply,  without  reference  to  his  being 
married.  It  was  generally  used  in  the  Middle  Ages,  i.e.  baccalarius 
and  baccalaria,  to  denote  young  persons  above  eighteen  years  of  age 
serving  under  a  master.    The  French  feminine  was  bachehtte. 


GRADUATION.  221 

we  find  it ;  but  it  was  then  applied  to  a  stage  of 
progress  in  the  specialized  studies  of  law,  etc.  If  the 
student,  after  a  certain  length  of  attendance  and 
payment  of  a  certain  sum,  had  conducted  "  Repeti- 
tions "  *  for  one  year,  he  was  then  called  Bachalarius 
(Savigny).  Each  faculty  as  it  became  organized 
adopted  the  term  "bachelor"  to  mark  the  half-way 
house  to  a  full  degree. 

The  words  "  doctor  "  (teacher)  and  "  magister  " 
(master) — equivalent  terms — were  first  used  generically, 
I  have  said,  by  those  who  taught  and  examined  others, 
but  when  the  universities  began  to  organize  a  gradua- 
tion system  they  were  largely,  I  cannot  but  think, 
under  the  influence  of  the  practice  of  mediaeval  guilds. 
They  were  guilds  of  learning.  We  must  at  once  see, 
indeed,  that  in  every  nation  where  letters  flourished 
the  names  "master"  and  "doctor"  would,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  be  found  ;  these  words  being  used,  as  we 
have  said,  only  in  a  generic  sense.  But  when  we  speak 
of  academic  "degrees,"  we  use  the  words  in  a  specific 
sense  and  mean  dignities  and  titles,  formally  con- 
ferred in  accordance  with  certain  regulations,  which 
dignities  carried  with  them  certain  rights  to  teach 
and  practise  a  science  or  art.  It  would  seem  that 
titles  of  honour  in  this  sense  were  conferred  among 
the  ancient  Jews.  But  though  it  may  be  true  that  in 
the  Jewish  schools,  before  Christ,  the  titles  of  doctor 

*  See  sequel  for  explanation  of  this  and  for   the  conditions  of 
graduation,  under  "  University  Studies, " 


222      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

and  master  (Rabbi)  were  not  simply  assumed  but 
formally  conferred,  it  would  be  absurd  to  trace  the 
introduction  of  these  titles  in  the  Middle  Ages  to  a 
conscious  imitation  of  a  then  hated  and  despised 
race.  If  these  designations  were  in  use  in  the  Arab 
schools,  it  might  be  reasonable  perhaps  to  find  in  the 
Arab  custom  a  partial  explanation  of  the  European 
usage ;  but  I  am  not  aware  that  they  were  so  used. 
In  China,  again,  three  titles  are  conferred  after  public 
examination,  corresponding  to  bachelor,  licentiate  (or 
master),  and  doctor.  But  this  simply  means  that  the 
Chinese  terms  are  best  represented  (not  translated) 
by  these  European  words.  The  literal  translation  is 
of  a  very  "  flowery  "  character. 

The  next  question  of  interest  in  connection  with 
degrees  is  that  of  the  time  of  their  institution.  Up 
to  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  any  one  taught 
in  the  infant  universitates  who  thought  he  had  the 
requisite  knowledge.  It  was  made  a  matter  of 
reproach  against  Abelard,  who  died  1142,  that  he 
had  no  formal  authority  to  teach  ;  and  we  know 
from  the  poem  of  ^Egidius  (quoted  by  Meiners,  ii. 
p.  208),  that  young  men,  wholly  unfit,  ventured  to 
teach  medicine  at  Salerno.  Even  in  the  second  half 
of  the  twelfth  century,  when  the  bishops  and  abbots, 
who  acted,  personally  or  through  their  deputies,  as 
chancellors  of  the  rising  university  schools,  wished 
to  assume  to  themselves  exclusively  the  right  of  grant- 


GRADUATION.  223 

ing  the  licence  (with  a  view  to  check  abuses,  I  pre- 
sume), Pope  Alexander  III.  forbade  them,  on  the 
ground  that  the  teaching  faculty  was  a  gift  of  God. 
This  itself  is  evidence,  no  doubt,  that  the  custom  of 
granting  licences  or  degrees  only  after  examination 
had  begun  ;  but  it  also  shows  that  it  had  not  estab- 
lished itself.  We  may  fix  the  establishment  of  the 
custom  at  the  end  of  the  twelfth  or  beginning  of  the 
thirteenth  century ;  but  in  theology  it  must  have  been 
much  earlier. 

In  1207,  the  increasing  number  of  students  of 
theology  had  led  so  many  masters  to  assume  the 
teaching  of  that  subject,  that  Pope  Innocent  III. 
wrote  to  the  Bishop  of  Paris,  as  Chancellor  of  the 
University,  to  restrict  the  number  of  theological 
teachers  to  eight.  From  this  we  may  date  the 
beginning  of  the  degree  in  theology,  in  any  formal  or 
technical  sense,  that  is  to  say,  the  "  licence  "  to  teach 
theolog}/,  but  not,  therefore,  a  "  doctorship  "  in  name. 
From  this,  too,  we  may  conclude,  as  I  have  before 
said,  that  the  pope  never  ceased  to  exercise,  without 
hindrance,  a  certain  control  over  the  theological  school 
much  more  direct  than  he  ever  pretended  to  have 
over  the  schools  of  arts,  in  which,  shortly  before,  a 
"  licence  "  had  been  instituted  at  the  instance  of  the 
university  itself. 

The  distinction  between  "  masters  M  and  "doctors  " 
was  not  even  yet,  however,  made,  as  we  may  see  from  a 
letter  of  Pope  Innocent  in  1210,  where  he  refers  to  the 
17 


224      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

whole  body  of  teachers  of  theology,  arts,  and  canon 
law,  as  doctores  liberalium  artium.  Even  in  Salernum 
the  distinction  between  "licentiates"  and  "doctors" 
was  not  recognized.  This  college  first  granted  a 
formal  licence  under  the  statute  of  Roger,  in  1130, 
but  it  was  a  practical  or  professional  liccncia  medendi 
merely.  In  1231,  degrees  in  medicine  were  conferred 
in  Paris  before  the  formal  existence  of  a  separate 
medical  "  faculty." 

"Master"  and  "doctor"  still  continued  to  be 
interchangeable  titles.  The  history  of  universities 
shows  much  fluctuation  both  as  to  periods  of  study 
for  degrees  and  the  designations  given.  In  Germany, 
for  example,  the  "  mastership  "  never  took  hold  ;  but, 
instead  of  it,  as  to  this  day,  the  "  doctorship." 

As  soon  as  "  faculties  "  established  themselves,  the 
degrees  of  bachelor  and  licentiate  (master)  were  im- 
ported into  them.  Each  faculty  had  a  recognized 
graduation  scheme  in  the  latter  decades  of  the 
thirteenth  century  ;  that  is  to  say,  there  was  a 
bachelorship  of  medicine  and  theology  and  law,  as 
well  as  a  licentiateship,  or  mastership,  or  doctorship 
in  these  subjects. 

Source  of  Graduation. — According  to  Meiners 
(ii.  p.  213),  the  attainment  of  a  licentiateship  by  a 
bachelor  originally  depended  entirely  on  the  masters 
who  taught  him.*     It  was  an  university  act,  but  not 

*  I  am  disposed  to  think,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  chancellor  always 
conferred  the  licencia. 


GRADUATION,  225 

a  corporate  act  The  next  step  was  that  the  master, 
or  masters,  presented  the  candidate  to  the  chancellor, 
who  conferred  the  licence  which  carried  with  it, 
as  I  have  already  explained,  the  mastership.  When 
faculties  were  finally  formed,  it  was  the  faculty  that 
presented  the  candidate.*  Meiners  notwithstanding, 
I  am  of  opinion  the  "  licencia  "  was  never  conferred  in 
Paris  except  by  the  Chancellor.  During  the  disper- 
sion of  the  Paris  masters,  however,  in  1229,  they  them- 
selves, without  the  authority  of  chancellor  or  bishop, 
examined  and  promoted  to  licence  or  mastership. 

The  well-known  Bull  of  Gregory  IX.  (123 1)  refers 
to  bachelors  as  receiving  their  titles  from  the  masters 
alone — the  chancellor  being  called  in  only  in  the 
case  of  licentiates  or  masters.  It  also  confirms 
what  we  have  previously  stated,  that  licentiates  or 
masters  were  practically  one  and  the  same,  of  which 
indeed  there  can  be  no  doubt.  The  assumption  of 
the  title  of  "  master "  by  the  licentiate  was,  I  repeat, 
a  merely  ceremonial  introduction  into  the  magistral 
body,  the  new  master  being  then  invested  with  the 
biretta.  There  followed  fees  and  festivity,  and  this 
was  all  as  in  the  trade-guilds. 

*  At  this  day,  in  Scotland,  each  faculty  presents  its  candidates  to  the 
Senatus,  {i.e.  the  united  faculties),  by  laying  the  names  of  those  who  have 
passed  their  trials  before  that  body,  and  then,  through  its  dean,  presents 
them  to  the  chancellor  at  a  public  ceremony.  We  learn,  from  a  statute 
of  the  Paris  Faculty  of  Arts  (1279),  that  they  admitted  to  "  proofs  "  for 
the  licence  men  trained  at  other  seats  of  learning — an  interesting  and 
significant  fact 


226     MEDIMVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

In  Oxford  and  Cambridge  the  degree  system  was 
much  the  same  as  at  Paris.  At  one  time  Oxford 
gave  degrees  for  single  subjects,  such  as  grammar, 
rhetoric,  poetics,  and  music ;  but  the  "  masters  "  in 
these  single  arts  took  rank  only  with  Bachelors  of 
Arts  in  the  full  sense,  and  were  consequently  not  full 
"  masters  "  of  the  university.  Cambridge  at  one  time 
gave  a  degree  in  grammar  alone :  *  The  last  degree 
in  grammar  was  conferred  in  1542.  The  old  term 
of  attendance  for  the  bachelorship,  namely,  four  years 
(now  three),  and  seven  years,  in  all,  for  the  mastership, 
was  long  retained  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  The 
latter  degree,  however,  has  not  for  centuries  (?)  been 
the  mark  of  any  attainment  above  the  bachelorship. 
Degrees  in  theology,  medicine,  and  law,  granted  after 
academic  training  and  examination,  fell  into  disuse, 
as  did  the  whole  professorial  and  specialized  system. 
"  Professional "  studies  also  became  virtually  extinct, 
and  are  only  now  in  these  days  being  revived. 

If  we  turn  to  Bologna,  we  shall  find  that  the  title 
of  "  magister  "  and  "  dominus  "  was  applied  to  Irnerius, 
but  not  doctor.  The  first  teachers,  however,  early 
began  to  co-opt  others  who  had  shown  their  fitness 
to  instruct,  and  these  were  known  as  "  doctors "  or 
teachers,  not  officially  "  masters,"  as  in  Paris,  though 
this  term  was  also  often  used.  This  co-optation  seems 
to  have  been  the  earliest  form  of  faculty-promotion. 
*  This  was  specially  intended  for  schooolmasters. 


GRADUATION.  227 

111  the  course  of  the  thirteenth  century  there  are  to 
be  found  doctores  medicince,  philosophic  etc.  By  that 
time  examinations  had  been  introduced.  The  jurists 
held  that  the  title  "  doctor "  should  be  specially  re- 
served for  their  subject.  While  the  degrees  were  as 
yet  confined  to  law,  Pope  Honorius  III.  interfered 
with  the  granting  of  degrees  in  12 19,  and  in  order  to 
impose  a  check  on  abuses,  directed  that  they  should 
be  conferred  (not  by,  but)  by  permission  of,*  the  arch- 
deacon of  the  cathedral  and  under  his  presidency. 
The  mere  right  to  teach — the  "  licencia  " — did  not  of 
itself  confer  the  doctorship ;  but  this  latter  title  was 
given  after  the  licencia,  and  involved  a  further  and 
public,  but  evidently  quite  formal,  examination  in  the 
presence  of  the  archdeacon  as  Chancellor. 

Though  arts  were  taught  in  Bologna,  there  seemed 
to  be  no  promotion  in  arts  till  long  after  the  custom 
was  established  in  Paris ;  and  it  would  appear  that 
the  title  of  bachelor  was  never  known  in  Italy  as  an 
arts  title  or  degree. 

With  these  remarks  on  what  we  conceive  to  have 
been  the  origin  and  growth  of  university  degrees,  we 
would  now  sum  up  as  follows  : — 

The  gradusy  steps,  or  degrees  in  the  ladder  of 
knowledge,  as  soon  as  the  organization  was  fairly 
complete,  were  nominally  four,  actually  three — viz. 
bachelor,  licentiate  or  master,  and  finally  doctor,  but 

^     *  I  so  interpret  the  Bull. 


228      MEDIMVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

this  last  outside  "  arts."  I  am,  of  course,  giving  the 
general  usage  or  rather  generalizing  the  usage  ;  for 
each  university  had  its  own  peculiarities.  At  first, 
each  man  who  had  it  in  him,  or  thought  he  had, 
began  to  lecture  and  took  his  chance.*  As  a  lecturer, 
he  was  called  magister  or  doctor  in  the  generic  sense 
of  these  words — that  is,  simply  a  master  or  teacher. 
As  the  universities  gradually  hardened  down  into 
definite  self-governing  organizations,  the  chancellor, 
on  the  presentation  of  the  "masters"  or  "doctors," 
as  the  case  might  be,  formally  granted  a  licence  to 
competent  students  after  examination.  Just  as  the 
universities  had  in  their  origin  practical  and  profes- 
sional specialized  aims,  so  the  licence  they  at  first 
granted  was  practical  and  professional  —  licencia 
medendi  and  licencia  docendu 

In  Paris,  owing  to  the  dominating  influence  of 
arts  studies,  the  old  title  connected  with  arts  survived 
— viz.  magister,  and  the  conferring  of  this  followed  on 
the  licence  as  a  mere  ceremonial.  In  Salernum,  the  title 
was  sometimes  "  master,"  sometimes  "  doctor  ;  "  in 
Bologna,  and  Italy  generally,  it  was  "  doctor."  When 
theology  became  separated  from  arts,  as  a  separate 
study  or  faculty,  the  title  doctor  was  also  assigned  to 
this  new  faculty  as  a  "  higher  "  faculty,  it  being  already 
found  to  exist  in  Italy,  if  not  also  in  France,  for  civil 
and  canon  law.     Again,  a  preparatory  course  of  in- 

*  I  refer  to  Bologna  and  Salernum.     In  theology  at   Paris,  the 
Chancellor  of  Notre  Dame  always  conferred  the  title. 


GRADUATION.  229 

struction  for  boys  having  always  existed  in  the  monas- 
tery and  cathedral  schools,  a  title  was  invented  to 
mark  the  completion  of  this  course  wherever  the 
universities  included  the  work  of  secondary  or  "trivial" 
schools.     This  title  was  Baccalarius. 

Itter  informs  us,  in  his  learned  and  clumsy  work 
"  De  Gradibus  sive  Honoribus  Academicis,"  that  the 
licentiateship  was,  subsequently  in  some  universities, 
higher  than  the  mastership,  so  that  a  complete 
university  course  was  then  represented  by  four  de- 
grees— bachelor,  master,  licentiate,  and  finally  doctor, 
which  last  was  usually  taken  at  the  age  of  thirty  or 
thirty-five ;  but,  in  general,  there  were  only  three 
degrees,  the  mastership  being  included  in  the  licen- 
tiateship, and,  in  some  cases,  the  mastership  including 
the  doctorship. 

Each  specialist  university,  as  we  saw  in  a  previous 
lecture,  early  set  itself  to  add  on  the  specialist  studies 
of  other  universities.  Bologna  added  to  the  arts  course 
and  to  civil  law,  colleges  or  faculties  of  theology  and 
medicine.  And  when,  in  1224,  Frederick  II.  instituted 
the  University  of  Naples,  he  included  all  "lawful" 
studies  or  faculties,  though  the  term  "  faculty  "  was 
not  then  in  use  in  its  later  and  present  technical  sense. 

The  next  development  of  the  degree  system 
was  the  introduction  of  the  grades  of  bachelor  and 
master  or  licentiate  into  each  of  the  higher  faculties 
— theology,  law,  and  medicine.  Thus  a  man  who 
had  finished  his  preliminary  arts  studies,  generally  at 


230      MEDIMVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES, 

the  age  of  twenty-one,  and  wished  to  specialize  in 
theology  or  medicine  or  law,  had  to  pass  through  the 
stages  of  bachelor  of  theology,  or  of  medicine,  or  of 
law,  and  then  of  master  or  licentiate,  before  he  attained 
the  title  of  doctor.  The  bachelorship  of  medicine  or 
law  was  reached  in  three  years,  of  theology  in  seven. 
Four  years'  further  study  brought  the  doctor's  degree. 
Thus  a  man  might  be  doctor  of  medicine  or  law  at 
the  age  of  twenty-seven,  and  of  theology  at  thirty-one. 
A  doctor  in  both  civil  and  canon  law  was  called 
J.U.D.  (Juris  Utriusque  Doctor);  afterwards  LL.D. 
was  substituted.  D.C.L.  may  (I  presume)  mean 
either  civil  or  canon  law  according  to  its  historical 
relations. 

This  was  the  complete  graduation  system  ;  but  it 
did  not  obtain  in  every  university  in  its  completeness. 

That  the  bachelorship  was  taken  very  young,  we 
know  from  the  history  of  many  universities.  In  the 
seventeenth  century  a  statute  was  passed  at  Oxford 
fixing  fourteen  as  the  youngest  age  for  matriculation, 
and,  centuries  before  this,  twelve  years  of  age  had  been 
fixed  as  the  minimum  at  Paris.  As  early  as  1380* 
the  statutes  of  King's  Hall,  Cambridge,  require  that 
the  matriculant  shall  be  at  least  fourteen,  and  that  he 
shall  be  sufficiently  proficient  in  grammar  to  take  up 
logic  or  any  other  "  faculty  which  the  warden  might 
select  for  him  "  (Willis). 

*  I  had  written  1326,  but  altered  to  1380  on  the  authority  of  the 
recent  beautiful  edition  of  Willis's  "Architectural  Cambridge"  (1886). 


GRADUATION.  231 

The  bachelor  course  was,  in  fact,  a  grammar 
school  or  trivium  course.  And  in  our  own  time,  we 
see  that  the  German  universities  have  relegated  it 
entirely  to  the  gymnasiums  or  high  schools,  reserving 
the  universities  for  specialized  study.  The  gymna- 
sium course  is,  however,  a  far  wider  and  more  pro- 
longed course  than  the  baccalaurean  course  of  the 
mediaeval  universities.  The  question  now  await- 
ing solution  in  Scotland  (and  in  England,  too,  for 
that  matter)  is  whether  the  properly  secondary-school 
instruction  shall  be  relegated  entirely  to  schools,  as 
in  Germany  and  France,  or  continue  to  hold  a  place 
in  the  Faculty  of  Arts.  In  England,  elementary  and 
advanced  school  work  choked  off  specialized  university 
teaching  till  recently.  The  solution  will  probably  be  a 
compromise.  Boys  of  seventeen  ought  to  come  to 
the  universities  with  a  preliminary  training  sufficient  to 
enable  them  to  enter  upon  an  academic  treatment  of 
Arts  subjects.  Certainly  neither  Church  nor  School 
can  afford  to  drive  out  Arts  studies,  pursued  as  a 
branch  of  liberal  education,  from  the  universities. 
It  would  be  (it  seems  to  me)  a  retrograde  movement. 
At  the  same  time  the  masters'  degree  must  be  so 
specialized  as  to  secure  high  attainments  in  those 
special  departments  of  study  which  a  man  intends 
to  make  his  life-profession.  The  Baccalaureate  should 
be  restored  in  Scotland, 

On  the  subject  of  degrees  an  interesting  discussion 


232      MEDIMVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

arose  in  Paris  in  the  thirteenth  century — viz.,  whether 
the  licence  and  mastership  could  be  rightly  conferred 
on  those  who  did  not  mean  to  teach.  It  was  settled 
in  the  affirmative,  and  hence  arose  the  distinction 
between  Magistri  regentes  (governing)  or  legentes 
(lecturing)  and  Magistri  non-regentes.  The  Magister- 
regens  was  ultimately  known  by  the  name  of  regent 
simply,  and  carried  his  pupils  through  the  whole 
curriculum  for  bachelor,  and  in  many  universities  also 
for  master,  until  the  development  of  literature, 
philosophy,  and  science  made  it  desirable  to  appoint 
special  "masters"  for  each  department,  and  these 
were  then  called  professors.  But  long  before  this 
title  was  recognized  in  Scotland  it  existed  elsewhere. 
In  fact,  it  is  used  as  applied  to  theology  in  Frederick's 
statutes  of  1224.  With  the  rise  of  professors  arose 
also  departmental  studies  in  arts,  and  scientific  investi- 
gation ;  indeed,  until  the  departmental  and  specialized 
professoriate  was  instituted,  the  universities  were  little 
more  than  gymnasia  for  the  training  of  aspirants 
to  the  professions ;  but  in  Paris  the  aim  was  always 
higher  than  this,  owing  to  the  philosophic  character 
of  the  "  arts  "  studies.  The  British  universities  have 
for  the  last  hundred  and  fifty  years  gradually  been 
recognizing  their  double  function  as  at  once  teach- 
ing schools  and  academic  institutes  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  learning.  A  professor  who  does 
not  fulfil  both  functions  is  not  a  professor  in  the 
strict  sense  of  the  word  at  all,  but  merely  a  kind  of 


GRADUATION.  233 

Magister  regens  or  legens.  In  a  sense,  he  is  a  fraud. 
He  is  a  great  obstacle  also  in  the  way  of  scientific 
progress ;  for,  if  he  does  not  investigate  himself,  he 
will  look  coldly  on  young  aspirants  in  the  field  of 
investigation. 

In  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  till  quite  recently,  the 
function  to  which  these  universities  mainly  restricted 
themselves,  that  of  schools  of  arts,  has  been  inter- 
preted in  the  narrowest  sense.  By  "arts"  the  mediaeval 
universities  meant  all  departments  of  knowledge  not 
specifically  professional — that  is  to  say,  language, 
rhetoric,  logic,  psychology,  metaphysics,  politics, 
physics,  natural  history,  geometry,  music,  astronomy, 
and  so  forth.  This  scheme  of  knowledge  translated 
into  modern  language  becomes  the  whole  range  of 
learning,  science,  and  art,  in  so  far  as  pursued  in  a 
scietitific  spirit,  and  with  a  view  to  the  advancement 
of  knowledge  merely. 

An  university,  properly  understood,  is  the  home  of 
the  arts  and  sciences.  It  exists  to  teach  them,  and  it 
equally  exists  to  promote  them.  In  the  English 
universities,  the  culture  and  discipline  of  the  general 
student  has  been  the  almost  exclusive  aim.  To 
speak  of  "culture"  as  the  aim  of  college  and  uni- 
versity life  is  to  throw  a  mere  phrase  at  the  head  of 
the  public.  Culture  can  never  be  a  conscious  end  to 
a  man  without  unmanning  him.  Still  more  must  it 
emasculate  an  university  where  it  is  achieved,  after  all, 
by  not  more  than  one  in  five  hundred.     And  when 


234      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

we  do  find  it  in  its  supremest  and  most  precious  form, 
we  cannot  say  we  like  it.  It  is  always  narrow,  and 
must,  from  the  psychological  nature  of  the  case,  be 
egotistical.  That,  indeed,  is  a  poor  result  of  the 
highest  education — a  man  who  thinks  himself  supreme 
or  precious,  and  who  spends  his  life  in  turning  pretty 
phrases  when  not  engaged  in  admiration  of  his 
own  exclusive  intellectual  possessions.  Such  a  man 
admires  even  his  own  college  only  in  so  far  as  it  con- 
tains himself.  Style  and  form  are  excellent  things, 
but  they  never  yet  existed  in  perfection,  except  when 
there  was  an  ardent  soul,  a  fiery  enthusiasm,  a  great 
human  purpose,  behind  them.  Mr.  Edward  Kirk- 
patrick,  in  his  book  on  the  universities,  well  says, 
"An  institution  which  stakes  its  whole  power  and 
credit  in  society  upon  refinement  and  intelligence  not 
evinced  in  any  one  particular  form  of  efficiency  will 
inevitably  disappear  more  and  more  from  connection 
with  a  world  of  flesh  and  blood  into  a  kindred  cloud- 
land  of  unrealities  and  abstractions."  Indeed,  may 
we  not  truly  say  that  it  is  our  relation  to  the  concrete 
life  of  humanity  that  gives,  not  merely  substance  and 
stability,  but  also  stimulus  and  inspiration  to  all 
thought  of  much  value  ?  It  is  this  that  breathes  into 
abstract  pursuits  a  living  soul  and  animates  the 
worker  to  renewed  efforts. 

The  culture  of  the  few,  and  the  giving  of  the  many 
a  certain  amount  of  discipline,  by  means  of  the  ancient 
tongues,  mathematics,  and  a  little  logic,  to  fit  them  for 


GRADUATION.  235 

the  professions  of  clergyman  and  schoolmaster,  is  not 
the  only  return  society  expects  from  great  univer- 
sities. The  large  rewards  of  study,  especially  fellow- 
ships, should  be  directed  to  the  encouragement  of 
pursuits  which  do  not  "  pay,"  and  no  longer  reserved 
mainly  for  men  who  can  find  in  clerical  or  scholastic 
situations  the  proper  prizes  for  excellence  in  Latin, 
Greek,  and  mathematics.  The  money  should  be 
devoted  to  the  equipment  of  the  arts  (including  of 
course  ancient  literatures)  and  sciences,  and  the  sus- 
tenance of  those  who  pursue  them  from  the  pure  love 
of  knowledge  and  in  the  interests  of  mankind.  "  Pro- 
fessions "  can  take  care  of  themselves.* 

*  I  cannot  but  think  that  the  present  outlay  on  physical  science  at 
Oxford  and  Cambridge  is  to  be  justified  only  if  it  restricts  itself  within 
the  purely  scientific  and  avoids  the  strictly  professional.  The  numerous 
modifications  of  the  B.  A.  course  with  a  view  to  admit  of  men  taking  up 
a  line  of  liberal  study  which  may  prepare  thero  for  "  professional"  study 
are,  in  principle,  to  be  commended ;  but  fhe  circumstances  of  the  country 
do  not  call  upon  Oxford  and  Cambridge  for  0  fresh  supply  of  medical 
and  legal  practitioners.     Their  proper  function  is  much  higher. 


236     MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND  UNIVERSITIES. 


LECTURE  XIII. 

OXFORD  AND  CAMBRIDGE. 

I  HAVE  some  difficulty  in  deciding  whether  I  should 
now  treat  of  "  university  studies"  as  the  natural  com- 
plement of  the  preceding  lecture  on  graduation,  or  ask 
your  attention  to  the  early  constitution  of  those 
other  universities  which  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
European  system.  On  the  whole,  I  think  it  better 
to  take  the  latter  course. 

In  a  former  lecture  I  referred  to  the  educational 
activity  of  England  before  the  time  of  Charlemagne. 
Bede,  one  of  the  most  illustrious  of  those  who  main- 
tained the  reputation  of  his  country,  died  in  A.D.  735, 
and  we  may  say  with  William  of  Malmesbury  that 
almost  all  knowledge  of  events  was  buried  with  Bede 
for  four  centuries. 

Before  the  time  of  Alfred  there  were  schools  in 
connection  with  the  Priory  of  St.  Frideswyde  in 
Oxford,  and  also  with  the  conventual  establishment 
at  Ely  from  very  early  times.  It  was  doubtless 
out  of,  or  in   close   affiliation  with,  these  two  insti- 


OXFORD  AND   CAMBRIDGE.  237 

tutions  that  the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge first  arose. 

The  discrediting  of  certain  passages  (recognized 
to  be  interpolations)  in  Asser's  "Vita  Alfredi,"  and 
of  the  chronicle  of  Ingulphus,  compels  us  to  say  that 
there  is  no  evidence  that  Oxford  was  more  than  an 
arts  school  of  the  type  of  the  Benedictine  down  to 
the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century.  From  the 
point  of  view  from  which  I  regard  the  rise  of  univer- 
sities, I  should  say  that  Oxford  only  then  first  showed 
a  disposition  to  pass  from  a  secondary  school  to  an 
university  when  Vacarius,  about  1 149,  lectured  there 
on  civil  law.  Had  this  specialty  been  fostered  at 
Oxford,  it  would  have  become  an  university  of  law 
with  a  strong  u  arts  "  basis  ;  especially  as  at  this  very 
time  there  was  great  dialectical  activity  among  the 
Oxonians.  But  King  Stephen  and  the  Church  ob- 
jected to  civil  law,  and  nothing  came  of  Vacarius' 
venture. 

Anstey,  in  the  introduction  to  "  Monumenta  Aca- 
demical i.  xxxiv.,  considers  that  there  is  no  evidence 
that  Oxford  was  an  university  before  the  Conquest. 
This  at  least  is,  I  should  say,  quite  certain.  It  would 
be  pedantic,  however,  to  say  that  no  educational  in- 
stitution was  an  university  till  it  had  the  constitution 
of  an  university  as  that  was  shaped  by  the  "  nations  " 
at  Bologna  and  Paris,  or  by  an  universitas  magis- 
trorum  ;  but  it  is  certainly  correct  to  say  that  no 
school,  however  efficient,  is  an  university  until  it  does 


238     MEDIALVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

the  work  of  an  university,  that  is  to  say,  provides  for 
the  teaching  of  men  as  well  as  of  boys,  and  this  by 
specialist  regents  or  professors.  About  twenty  years 
before  Vacarius  lectured,  Robert  Pulleyne  returned 
from  Paris,  and  endeavoured  to  revive  the  teaching 
of  theology,  and  succeeded  in  infusing  a  higher  spirit 
into  the  Oxford  school.  Here  was  another  oppor- 
tunity afforded  to  Oxford  of  developing  into  an 
universitas. 

Our  past  lectures  on  the  birth  of  universities 
sufficiently  show  that  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  put 
our  finger  on  the  precise  date  at  which  a  good  *  arts  " 
school  became  an  university,  or  studium  generale.  I 
should  certainly  not  postpone  the  date  of  the  evolu- 
tion, from  the  lower  to  the  higher,  till  the  period  of 
the  formal  adoption  of  more  or  less  of  the  Paris  con- 
stitution. A  studium  generale  may  exist  in  substance 
though  not  in  external  form  ;  but  I  am  not  aware  that 
this  designation  was  ever  authoritatively  given  to  any 
school  which  had  not  a  specialized  as  well  as  a  "public" 
course  of  instruction.  The  first  royal  recognition  was 
by  Henry  III.,  who  summoned  Parliament  to  meet  at 
Oxford  in  1258.  But  we  must  date  the  starting- 
point  of  the  universitas  long  before  this.  University 
College  was  instituted  in  1232.  We  know  that  the 
Benedictine  Order  was  in  a  corrupt  state  in  the  time 
of  Robert  Grosseteste,  who  died  in  1253  ;  and  that 
this  eminent  man  had  much  to  do  with  the  de- 
nunciation   of   abuses,    the    encouragement    of    the 


OXFORD  AND   CAMBRIDGE,  239 

(then)  new  Dominicans  and  Franciscans,  who  gave 
so  great  an  impulse  to  learning  in  Europe,  and  the 
advocacy  of  a  higher  learning  generally.  He  was  a 
patriot  and  a  scholar  and  a  humanist.  His  authority 
alone  would  carry  the  university  back  to  A.D.  1200. 

In  speaking  of  Paris,  I  have  already  told  you  of 
the   students'    riot   of    1228,  which   resulted   in   the 
maltreatment    of    many  of    the    citizens,   and    how 
Queen    Blanche,   acting    under   bad    advice,    caused 
the    students    to    be    attacked    while   engaged   with 
their  sports  outside  the  walls.     Driven  into  the  city 
and   unarmed,  many  students,  while   seeking  safety 
in   places    of    concealment,  were   killed,  and   a   still 
larger  number  seriously  wounded.     The   university, 
resenting   this  treatment,  broke  up  and  migrated  to 
Orleans,  Angers,   Rheims,   and   other   towns,   where 
teaching  was    conducted  and   degrees  conferred   in- 
dependently  of    Church   or   King.      Henry   III.    of 
England   seized   the   opportunity  to   invite   the   dis- 
persed scholars  to  the  rising  schools  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge.     These  students  came,  and  brought  with 
them  the  university  idea  of  studies  and  privileges  ;  and 
we  are  certainly  safe  in  maintaining  that,  concurring 
as  this  date  does  with  the  foundation  of  University 
College   and  the  activity  of  Robert  Grosseteste,  the 
date  of  the  university  could  not  possibly  be  put  later 
than  1200 ;  and  this  applies  to  both  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge.    For  we  may  fairly  conclude  that  the  immi- 
grants, after  the  migration  from  Paris  in  1229,  would 
18 


240     MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

not  have  directed  their  steps  to  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge at  all  had  they  not  known  that  it  was  possible 
there  to  continue  studies  above  those  which  belonged 
to  a  good  Arts  cathedral  school.  The  influence 
of  the  Paris  migration  must  have  been  very  great, 
for,  as  Mr.  Mullinger  says,  "  the  University  of  Paris 
throughout  the  thirteenth  century  well-nigh  monopo- 
lized the  interest  of  the  learned  in  Europe.  Thither 
thought  and  speculation  seemed  irresistibly  attracted. 
It  was  there  the  new  orders  fought  the  decisive  battle 
for  place  and  power ;  that  new  forms  of  scepticism 
rose  in  rapid  succession,  and  heresies  of  varying 
moment  riveted  the  watchful  eye  of  Rome ;  that 
anarchy  most  often  triumphed  and  flagrant  vices 
most  prevailed  ;  and  it  was  from  this  seething  centre 
that  those  influences  went  forth  which  predominated 
in  the  cotemporary  history  of  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge" (i.  132).  The  migrating  masters  would  carry 
the  genius  of  Paris  with  them. 

But  while  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  date  1200 
may  be  assigned  to  Cambridge,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  at  Oxford  there  was  an  university,  in  fact 
if  not  in  form,  sixty  years  before  this.  Had  there  not 
been  a  well-known  and  active  higher  school  there  in 
the  earlier  decades  of  the  twelfth  century,  Robert 
Pulleyne  would  not  have  come  from  Paris  about  1 130 
to  lecture  there,  nor  would  Vacarius  have  endeavoured 
to  found  a  school  of  civil  law  in  1149,  nor  should  we 
hear  (on  the  authority  of  John  of  Salisbury)  that  dis- 


OXFORD  AND    CAMBRIDGE.  241 

cussions  regarding  universals  {in  re  or  ante  rem)  raged 
at  Oxford  in  11 53.  Again,  to  prove  that  Oxford  was 
largely  freque?ited  in  1200,  it  is  sufficient  to  say 
that  in  1209  there  was  a  secession  from  Oxford: 
"  Recesserunt  ab  Oxonia  tria  millia  clericorum  tarn 
magistri  quam  discipuli  ita  quod  nee  unus  ex  omni 
universitate  remansit.,,  *  Of  these  some  went  to 
Reading,  some  to  Cambridge.  Then,  Giraldus  Cam- 
brensis  read  his  "  Topographia  Cambriae "  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Oxford,  and  the  second  day's  reading 
(he  tells  us)  was  addressed  to  the  "  doctores  diversa- 
rum  facultatum  (studies)  omnes  et  discipulos  famse 
majoris  et  noticiae."  This  was  in  11 86.  Accord- 
ingly, we  may  conclude  that  Oxford  was  entitled  to 
the  name  "  universitas "  about  1 140.  That  there 
was  a  decline  is  clear  enough  from  the  writings  of 
Grosseteste  and  the  complaints  of  Roger  Bacon  and 
Merton.  And,  further,  that  it  was  to  the  settlements 
of  Franciscans  and  Dominicans  (1220-1230)  that  the 
revival  was  chiefly  due  is  also,  I  think,  clear. 

The  date  of  papal  bulls  is  always  an  important 
one  in  the  history  of  universities ;  but,  as  I  have 
again  and  again  said,  all  the  earliest  universities  (with 
the  exception  of  Palentia  and  Naples)  grew  and  were 
not  founded,  and  it  would  consequently  be  incorrect 
to  date  the  existence  of  an  university  from  a  papal  or 
royal  charter  such  as  that  of  Henry  III.  to  Oxford. 

*  Roger  of  Wendover's  "Flowers  of  History, "  by  Giles,  ii.  249; 
quoted  by  Denifle,  p.  242. 


342      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

To  sum  up,  I  conclude  that  the  true  university  life  of 
Oxford  began  about  1140,  of  Cambridge  about  1200, 
and  that  their  university  organization  took  its  form 
about  1230,  after  the  Paris  migration. 

Cambridge  first  received  a  papal  bull  in  13 18  from 
Pope  John  XXIL,  but  in  1231  it  began  to  be  recog- 
nized by  royal  letters. 

So  active  was  the  life  of  Cambridge,  that  (owing 
to  local  riots)  it  could  afford  a  migration  to  North- 
ampton in  1 261.  Subsequently  there  was  a  migration 
from  Oxford  to  Stamford. 

As  at  the  seats  of  learning  abroad,  so  at  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  there  were  no  university  buildings 
or  schools.  These  did  not  begin  to  exist  till  the 
fourteenth  century.  The  students  were  taught  in 
the  hostels,  or  in  private  rooms ;  and  the  churches 
were  used  for  large  assemblies.  Somewhat  later, 
houses  were  specially  hired  by  masters  for  the 
purposes  of  instruction,  and  these  were  called 
"  schools."  There  were  thirty-two  such  schools  in 
Oxford  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
Besides  these,  there  were  the  schools  in  the  religious 
houses,  and  extra-academic  grammar-schools  for  those 
not  yet  fit  to  enter  on  university  work,  it  being  im- 
possible at  that  time  to  obtain  in  the  greater  part 
of  England  the  necessary  preparatory  instruction  in 
grammar. 

While  it  is  beyond  all  question  that  both  the 
universities  and  colleges  of  Oxford   and  Cambridge 


OXFORD  AND   CAMBRIDGE.  243 

modelled  themselves  largely  on  Paris,  there  are  yet 
peculiarities  deserving  of  notice  as  throwing  additional 
light  on  the  earliest  conception  of  an  university.  In 
Cambridge,  for  example,  the  functionary  on  whom 
we  have  to  concentrate  our  attention  is  not  a  Rector, 
but  a  Chancellor,  who,  though  elected  by  the  two 
houses  of  regents  and  non-regents,  derived  only  a  part 
of  his  authority  from  the  bodies  that  elected  him. 
Dean  Peacock  emphasizes  this  peculiarity.  The 
chancellor,  he  says,  had  powers  independent  of  the 
regents,  and  his  authority  was  necessary  to  give 
validity  to  their  acts.  He  was  not  necessarily  a 
regent  himself,  but  constituted  a  "distinct  estate  in 
the  academical  common  wealth."  "  His  powers,  though 
confirmed  and  amplified  by  royal  charters,  were 
ecclesiastical  both  in  their  nature  and  origin.  The 
court  over  which  he  presided  was  governed  by  the 
principles  of  the  canon  as  well  as  of  the  civil  law  ; 
and  the  power  of  excommunication  and  absolution, 
derived  in  the  first  instance  from  the  Bishop  of  Ely 
[who  claimed  a  visitatorial  power  resisted  by  the 
university]  and  subsequently  from  the  pope,  became 
the  most  prompt  and  formidable  instrument  for 
extending  his  authority.  The  form  likewise  of  con- 
ferring degrees,  and  the  kneeling  posture  of  the 
person  admitted,  are  indicative  both  of  the  act  and 
the  authority  of  an  ecclesiastical  superior."  It  is 
clear,  accordingly,  that  the  chancellor  in  England 
possessed   many  of  the  powers  of  the  Parisian  and 


244      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

Bononian  rectors.  The  internal  regulation  of  the 
education  and  of  the  degree  system  rested  practically, 
however,  with  the  regents,  the  non-regents  exercising 
a  concurrent  jurisdiction  in  matters  of  property  and 
privileges  only.  There  were  only  two  procurators 
or  proctors  (called  also  rectors),  and  their  authority 
was  next  to  that  of  the  chancellor  and  his  vice. 
They  were  chosen  annually  by  the  regents  ;  *  and 
among  their  other  academic  duties  they  regulated  the 
markets  and  hostelries,  and  supervised  the  revenues. 

The  immediately  preceding  remarks  refer  specially 
to  Cambridge,  but  they  are  substantially  applicable 
to  Oxford  also.  Indeed  it  would  appear,  from  Mr. 
Anstey's  "Monumenta  Academica,"  that  the  power  of 
the  chancellor  was  even  greater  at  the  latter  seat  of 
learning  than  at  Cambridge ;  and  in  this  respect  the 
English  universities,  while  adopting,  after  1230,  the 
general  characteristics  of  the  Parisian  system,  yet 
deviated  from  it  in  what  seems  to  me  an  essential 
particular. 

I  am  speaking  of  the  early  external  constitution, 
not  of  the  inner  life,  of  the  English  universities. 
This  latter  question  is  a  large  and  complex  one,  and 
bound  up  with  the  history  of  England  ;  but  although 
I  shall  not  venture  to  touch  it  myself,  I  cannot  re- 
frain from  quoting  here  an  interesting  passage  from 
Dollinger's  "  Universitaten  jetzt  und  sonst"  : — 

"England,  pursuing  throughout  its  whole  history 
*  Not  by  the  students. 


OXFORD  AND   CAMBRIDGE.  245 

the  twofold  aim  of  practical  activity  and  political 
freedom,  and  hostile  to  all  centralization,  has  confined 
itself  to  two  universities,  two  learned  corporations 
which  have  preserved  down  to  this  day  their  republican 
constitution  and  autonomy.*  A  single  university 
would  have  become  too  exclusive,  too  much  of  a 
monopoly,  and  ultimately  would  have  gone  to  sleep  on 
the  pillow  of  its  privileges  and  traditionary  honours. 
But  the  two  watched  and  stimulated  each  other,  and 
each  of  them  specially  cherished  one  of  the  two  main 
tendencies  of  the  English  mind, — Oxford  the  ecclesi- 
astical, and  the  disciplines  subserving  this  ;  Cambridge 
the  mathematical  and  more  practical  aims.'' 

Hostels,  Halls,  and  Colleges.         \_J±X^—*^>sv^> 

One  cannot  refer  to  English  universities  without 
having  one's  attention  fixed  by  the  collegiate  system 
which  so  soon  dwarfed  the  university. 

Like  all  the  other  parts  of  university  organization, 
halls  and  colleges  arose  quite  naturally  to  meet  the 
wants  of  the  hour.  The  multitude  of  students 
congregating  at  the  university  seats  made  it  often  very 
difficult  for  them  to  find  lodgings,  and  their  extreme 
youth  exposed  them  to  many  temptations  and  evils. 
Accordingly,  there  arose  at  Paris,  as  we  saw  (and  at 
Paris  especially,  because  at  Bologna  and  Salernum 
those  recognized  as  university  students  were  for  some 
time  much  older  than  the  undergraduates  of  Paris), 

#  To  these  have  now  been  added  Durham,  Victoria,  and  London. 


246      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

11  hostels  "  (Jiospitia,  a  name  taken  from  the  monastery 
hotels),  or  "  houses,"  set  apart  for  the  various  nations, 
where  lodging  and  some  sort  of  protection  and  super- 
intendence might  be  obtained  at  a  moderate  cost 
Even  at  Bologna  the  poor  students  who  were  main- 
tained at  the  cost  of  some  charitable  foundation, 
formed  a  kind  of  college  and  lived  together  under  rule. 
The  date  of  the  first  college  there  was  1263,*  but  long 
prior  to  this  charitable  funds  were  dispensed  to 
students.  Collegiate  institutions,  however,  never 
flourished  in  Italy. 

So  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth 
century  (and  doubtless  before  this)  hostels  existed 
at  Paris ;  but  the  name  "  college "  seems  first  to 
have  been  specially  applied  to  the  houses  of  religious 
orders,  where  were  accommodated  those  youths  who 
meant  to  devote  themselves  wholly  to  a  "  religious  " 
life.  So  far  at  least  as  "secular"  students  were 
concerned,  the  "colleges"  at  Paris  were  charity 
houses,  dependent  largely,  if  not  wholly,  on  the 
goodwill  of  the  well-disposed.  Even  in  the  twelfth 
century  there  were  colleges  (such  as  the  Danish), 
which  seem,  however,  to  have  soon  disappeared.! 
They  were  all  in  the  first  instance  merely  boarding- 
houses,  not  schools.     One  of  the  earliest,  if  not  the 


*  Collegium  Avenioniense  (see  Savigny,  xxi.  72). 

t  Mr.  Kirkpatrick  (p.  252)  quotes  from  Bulaeus,  part  iii.  p.  392,  in 
evidence  that  a  college  for  one  hundred  poor  clerks  was  founded  in 
the  eleventh  century  (?). 


OXFORD  AND   CAMBRIDGE.  247 

earliest,  of  the  colleges  which  held  its  ground,  was  the 
"College  des  Bons  Enfans,"  founded  in  1209.  The 
poverty  and  dependence  of  this  institution  is  pre- 
served in  the  old  rhyme — 

m  Les  bons  enfans  orrez  crier ; 
Du  pain  !  n'es  veuil  oublier." 

But  though  the  students  of  this  first  college  do 
not  seem  to  have  belonged  to  any  religious  order,  their 
aim  was  ecclesiastical  work  of  some  kind.  Even  the 
first  purely  secular  college,  and  the  most  famous  of 
them  all  in  history,  was  founded  for  the  study  of 
theology — that,  namely,  instituted  by  Robert  de  Sor- 
bonne,  chaplain  to  Louis  IX.,  who  also  contributed  to 
its  foundation.  It  was  intended  only  for  those  who 
had  already  graduated  in  arts  and  meant  to  devote 
themselves  to  theology.  It  was  thus  a  college  com- 
posed solely  of  "  Fellows, "  as  we  should  say  in 
England.     It  was  founded  in  1250.  y 

The  college  of  Navarre  was  founded  in  1304,  by 
Jeanne  of  Navarre,  for  the  board  and  lodging  of 
seventy  poor  scholars  at  all  the  stages  of  the  university 
curriculum — twenty  grammarians,  i.e.  boys  preparing 
for  their  B.A. ;  thirty  arts  students,  i.e.  preparing  for 
masterships  ;  and  twenty  theological  students.  So 
with  the  college  of  Montagu.  In  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury sixteen  colleges  were  founded  in  Paris.  In  the 
course  of  time  some  seventy  or  eighty  arose,  many  of 
which,  however,  ceased  to  exist  after  a  brief  and  in- 
glorious career.     The  Scots  college  was  not  founded 


248      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNVERS11IES. 

till  1326  by  David,  Bishop  of  Moray.  About  that 
date,  the  houses  and  colleges  contained  the  great  pro- 
portion of  the  members  of  the  university,  but  there  was 
no  enforcement  of  residence.  Eighteen  were  colleges 
of  religious  orders.  At  the  date  of  the  Revolution 
only  ten  survived.  The  old  rule,  that  every  student 
must  be  enrolled  with  some  "master,"  always  held 
good,  and  was  necessary  in  the  interests  of  discipline. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  original  hostels 
accommodated  more  than  a  small  proportion  of  the 
students — at  least  until  the  fourteenth  century.  The 
others  sought  lodgings  where  they  could  get  them  ; 
and  the  University  of  Paris,  after  121 5,  had  the  right 
to  inquire  into,  and  approve  of,  the  rents  charged,  so 
as  to  protect  the  students  against  extortion — a  right 
confirmed  by  the  Bull  of  123 1,  and  exercised,  as  I  have 
previously  said,  by  the  municipality  of  Bologna,  and 
also  at  Cambridge.* 

I  think  it  is  sufficiently  apparent  from  my  previous 
lectures  that  the  universities  arose  out  of  or  in  con- 
nection with  the  existing  Schools  of  Arts,  and  were 
at  first  simply  an  expansion  and  evolution  of  the 
existing  ecclesiastical  organizations.  This  view  is 
further  incidentally  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  it  was 
not  only  the  regents  resident  in  the  colleges  who 
were  required  to  be  celibate,  but  all  masters  of  all 
faculties  in  Paris.  This  rule  naturally  arose  out  of 
the  close  affinities  of  the  academic  with  the  monastic 
*  Doubtless  also  at  Oxford. 


OXFORD  AND  CAMBRIDGE.  249 

and  canonical  life.  It  was  not  till  1452  that  in  Paris 
the  masters  of  even  the  medical  faculty  were  allowed 
to  marry.  That  magistri-regentes  residing  within 
college  walls  should  be  bound  to  celibacy  is  intelligible. 

In  England  the  hostels  were  regulated  lodging- 
houses,  where  the  students  resided  at  their  own  cost, 
under  the  supervision  of  a  principal  admitted  by  the 
chancellor.  The  students  would  club  together  and 
hire  a  house  or  houses,  and  call  it  a  hospitium.  The 
members  of  a  hospitium  were  either  from  the  same 
part  of  the  country,  or  pursuing  the  same  studies. 
There  existed  in  Cambridge,  Hospitia  Artistarum  and 
Hospitia  Juristarum.  It  was  only  by  slow  degrees 
that  these  disappeared,  giving  way  as  colleges  multi- 
plied during  the  latter  half  of  the  thirteenth  and  the 
whole  of  the  fourteenth  centuries.  These  hostels 
were  sometimes  called  "inns,"  "entries,"  or  "halls ;" 
also  litterarum  diversoria.  The  principal  (always 
either  a  bachelor  or,  more  generally,  a  master) 
and  his  hall  were  substantially  independent  of  the 
university  authorities,  but  were,  of  course,  subject  to 
certain  general  regulations. 

The  monastic  institutions  at  Paris,  and  of  the  Fran- 
ciscans and  Dominicans  at  the  English  universities, 
were  practically  colleges,  as  this  word  was  afterwards 
understood,  because  there  was  in  them  a  common  life 
under  rule.  The  term  "  college  "  was  primarily  applied 
to  a  corporation  of  individuals  having  a  common 
purpose,  and  not  to  buildings.      The  latter  went  by 


250      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

the  name  of  D omits t  or  Aiila  Scholarium.  The  term 
"college"  was  next  used  as  equivalent  to  endowed 
hall ;  and  while  the  residents  at  halls  or  hostels  paid 
for  their  own  lodging  and  maintenance,  with  such 
help  as  they  could  obtain  from  loans  out  of  the  uni- 
versity chests  in  return  for  the  articles  they  pawned, 
or  from  the  proceeds  of  begging,  the  occupants  of 
colleges  had  free  quarters ;  but  they  had  to  accept  with 
this  privilege  the  detailed  regulations  of  the  college 
statutes.  Eighty  seems  to  have  been  the  largest 
number  of  halls  ever  existing  in  Oxford.  Owing 
to  the  increase  in  the  number  of  colleges,  the  halls 
numbered  only  twenty-six  in  IJJII,  and  as  colleges 
increased  in  number  and  wealth  they  bought  up  the 
hostels  at  both  the  university  seats.  "As  stars  lose 
their  light,"  says  Fuller,  "  when  the  sun  riseth,  so  all 
these  hostels  decayed  when  endowed  colleges  began 
to  appear  in  Cambridge." 

"  It  is  customary,  with  the  ignorant,"  says  Dean 
Hook,  "  to  speak  of  our  colleges  as  monastic  institu- 
tions ;  but,  as  every  one  knows  who  is  acquainted 
with  the  history  of  the  country,  the  colleges,  with 
very  few  exceptions,  were  introduced  to  supplant  the 
monasteries.  Early  in  the  twelfth  century  the  opinion 
began  to  prevail  that  the  monasteries  were  no  longer 
competent  to  supply  the  education  which  the  im- 
proved state  of  society  demanded.  The  primary 
object  of  the  monastery  was  to  train  men  for  what 
was  technically  called  the  "  religious  life  " — the  life  of 


OXFORD  AND   CAMBRIDGE.  251 

a  monk.  Those  who  did  not  become  monks  availed 
themselves  of  the  advantages  offered  in  the  monastic 
schools ;  but  still  a  monastic  school  was  as  much 
designed  to  make  men  monks  as  a  training  school  at 
the  present  time  is  designed  to  make  men  school- 
masters, although  some  who  are  so  trained  betake 
themselves  to  other  professions."  *  This  was  equally 
true  of  the  monastic  institutions  at  the  universities ; 
hence  the  need  of  "  colleges  "  for  seculars  free  from 
monastic  obligations. 

I  would  here  recall  to  mind  the  distinction  between 
the  three  kinds  of  mediaeval  schools — interior  monastic 
schools  for  the  oblati,  the  exterior  schools,  and  the 
canonical  cathedral  schools — and  I  would  point  out 
that  a  college  more  closely  resembled  the  residential 
part  of  a  cathedral  school,  such  as  Canterbury,  than 
a  monastery.  True,  the  colleges  were  intended  for 
those  who  meant  to  be  "  clerics ; n  but  this  order,  in 
those  days,  did  not  mean  the  regular  and  parochial 
clergy  only,  but  comprised  all  the  professions. 

By  far  the  most  important  of  the  early  college 
foundations  of  England  was  that  of  Walter  de  Merton, 
chancellor  of  the  kingdom  in  1264! — called  "Domus 
Scholarium  de  Merton."  J  This  foundation  furnished 
a  model  for  all  succeeding  colleges  both  in  Oxford 
and  Cambridge.     Merton  himself  must  have  had  his 

*  Lives  of  the  Archbishops,  iii.  339. 

f  The  second  charter  dates  1274. 

%  Preceded,  however,  some  say,  by  an  earlier  foundation. 


252      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

eye  on  the  Sorbonne.  Merton's  House  was  substan- 
tially what  we  should  now  call  a  secular  college.  No 
"  religious  person,"  that  is  no  monk  or  friar,  was  to 
be  admitted.  He  had  in  view  the  supply  of  regular 
clergy,  and  we  may  say  clerici  generally,  that  is  to 
say,  the  learned  class.  His  aim  was  to  produce  a 
"  constant  succession  of  scholars  devoted  to  the  pur- 
suits of  literature,"  "  bound  to  employ  themselves  in 
the  study  of  arts  or  philosophy,  theology  or  the  canon 
law;  the  majority  to  continue  in  the  arts  and  philo- 
sophy until  passed  on  to  the  study  of  theology  by  the 
decision  of  the  warden  and  fellows,  and  as  the  result 
of  meritorious  proficiency  in  the  first-named  subjects." 
It  would  be  difficult  even  in  these  days  to  form  a  more 
liberal  conception  of  a  college.  Mr.  Mullinger  says 
that  science  was  not  included  in  the  curriculum ;  but 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  arts  and  philosophy  in 
those  days  covered  the  field  of  science.  The  "  littera  " 
(1254)  of  the  Paris  universitas,  to  which  I  have  several 
times  referred  arts,  comprised  philosophia  rationalis, 
moralis,  and  naturalis.  It  was  only  the  scientific 
professions  of  medicine  and  law,  it  seems  to  me,  that 
were  left  out,  in  so  far  as  these  were  practical  and 
commercial  pursuits.*  "  Within  the  walls  of  Merton," 
says  Mr.  Mullinger  (p.  169),  "were  trained  the  minds 
that  chiefly  influenced  the  thought  of  the  fourteenth 

*  The  Mendicants  were  students  of  both  law  and  medicine.  This 
fact  may  have  affected  Merton's  views.  The  study  of  law  always  tended 
to  lower  the  scientific  and  academic  character  of  mediaeval  universities. 


OXFORD  AND   CAMBRIDGE,  253 

century.  It  was  there  that  Duns  Scotus,  the  '  Subtle 
Doctor/  was  educated ;  it  was  there  that  he  first 
taught.  Thence,  too,  came  William  of  Occam,  the 
revolutionizer  of  the  philosophy  of  his  age ;  and 
Thomas  Bradwardine,  known  throughout  Christendom 
as  the  '  Doctor  Profundus/  whose  influence  might 
vie  even  with  that  of  the  '  Doctor  Invincible/"  etc. 

We  have  said  enough  for  the  general  purposes 
of  these  lectures.  In  thus  briefly  describing  Merton, 
we  have  described  the  aim  and  constitution,  allowing 
for  minor  differences,  of  the  whole  collegiate  system 
of  Oxford  and  Cambridge :  in  so  far  as  the  aim 
was  not  charitable,  it  was  for  the  furtherance  of  the 
higher  learning.  University  Hall,  Oxford  (1280), 
was  to  provide  for  "four  masters  to  live  together, 
and  study  theology/'  It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
originally  there  seems  to  have  been  no  marked  line 
of  demarcation  between  the  scholar  and  fellow  of 
a  college.  The  distinction  first  formally  appears 
in  the  statutes  of  King's  College,  Cambridge.  "  It 
is  not  until  after  a  three  years'  probation,  during 
which  time  it  has  been  ascertained  whether  the 
*  scholar*  be  ingenio,  capacitate  sensus,  moribus,  con- 
ditionibus  et  scientia,  dignus,  habilis,  et  idoneus  FOR 
FURTHER  STUDY,  that  the  provost  and  fellows  are 
empowered  to  elect  him  one  of  their  number" 
(Mullinger,  p.  309).* 

*  Before  the  Reformation,  permission  to  wealthy  students  to  reside 
in  colleges,  even  on  payment  of  rent,  was  reluctantly  granted. 


254      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES, 

With  these  remarks  and  this  quotation  before  him, 
I  may  leave  the  unprejudiced  reader,  who  knows  what 
the  mediaeval  word  "  arts  "  truly  means  in  its  modern 
translation,  to  form  his  own  judgment  of  the  proper 
destination  of  the  great  wealth  of  the  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  Colleges. 

It  is  curious  to  note  that  in  these  latter  days  the 
non-collegiate  or  unattached  system  of  the  thirteenth 
and  fourteenth  centuries  has  been  revived.  Under- 
graduates may  now  live  in  licensed  lodging-houses, 
and  we  may  yet  see  restored  both  in  England  and 
Scotland  the  hostels  of  the  Middle  Ages.* 

*  What  else  I  have  to  say  on  the  English  universities  will  be  found 
under  "  University  Studies,"  seq.  As  bearing  on  the  rise  of  the  Cam- 
bridge schools,  it  may  be  mentioned  {vide  Willis's  "  Architectural  His- 
tory ")  that  the  Augustinian  Priory  of  Barnewell  was  established  in  1112, 
the  Benedictine  Nunnery  of  St.  Rhadegund  in  1 133,  and  the  Augustinian 
House,  called  St.  John's  Hospital,  in  1 135.  In  the  earlier  half  of 
the  twelfth  century,  too,  there  was  considerable  literary  activity  at  not 
a  few  cathedral  and  monastery  centres  (not  to  speak  of  the  Royal  Court). 
All  this  tended  to  centralize  itself  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge. 


LECTURE  XIV. 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  PRAGUE. 

I  THINK  it  of  importance  to  give  some  attention  to 
the  history  of  the  University  of  Prague,  because  (if 
we  except  Naples,  already  a  subject  of  consideration 
in  one  of  the  preceding  lectures,  and  Palentia,  of 
which  I  have  no  knowledge)  it  was  the  first  university 
formally  founded.  It  was,  moreover,  quite  the  first 
founded  after  Europe  had  had  experience  of  the 
university  system.  We  may  consequently  expect  to 
find  in  its  constitution  not  only  the  conclusions  to 
which  the  best  minds  had  then  come  as  regards  the 
higher  education,  but  we  shall  also  find  in  its  organi- 
zation much  that  throws  a  retrospective  light  on 
questions  in  university  history  which  have  frequently 
given  rise  to  discussion.  The  University  of  Prague 
was  also  the  starting-point  of  the  great  German 
system ;  and,  indeed,  when  we  look  at  this  system 
in  its  full  modern  development,  we  are  justified  in 
saying  that  its  formative  idea  is  to  be  discerned  in 
this  the  earliest  German  foundation.  I  shall  be  as 
19 


256      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

succinct  as  possible,  believing  that  those  who  have 
followed  the  previous  survey  of  university  history 
will  be  able  to  see  for  themselves  the  significance  of 
the  facts,  and  to  supply  their  own  comments  and 
conclusions. 

The  University  of  Prague  was  founded  in  April 
1348,  by  Charles  IV.,  who  ascended  the  Bohemian 
throne  in  1346.  He  founded  it,  as  from  the  first,  a 
stadium  generate  of  all  the  faculties,  and  confirmed 
his  foundation  the  following  year,  conferring  on  it 
all  the  rights,  privileges,  and  immunities  which  had 
been  conferred  by  his  ancestors  from  time  to  time 
on  other  universities.  The  university  was  not  founded 
in  respond  to  a  national  demand.  Charles  had  him- 
self been  a  student  at  Paris,  and  "  now,  in  memory 
of  his  student-life  in  the  rue  de  Fouarre,  wished  to 
have  a  copy  of  the  university  there,  in  his  hereditary 
kingdom  of  Bohemia  "  (Dollinger,  p.  7). 

But  before  Charles  issued  his  charter,  he  had  been 
in  communication  with  the  pope,  and  in  the  year 
prior  to  the  formal  institution  (1347)  had  obtained 
from  him  a  Bull,  founding  an  university  in  all  the 
faculties,  and  giving  catholic  validity  to  its  degrees. 
He  appointed  the  Archbishop  of  Prague  chancellor. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  in  Paris  the  chancellor 
grew  up  with  the  university,  simply  retaining  under 
new  and  gradually  restricted  conditions  the  position 
he  had  held  over  the  school  of  arts,  out  of  which  the 
university  grew.    We  also  saw  that  Pope  Honorius  III. 


THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  PRAGUE,  257 

appointed  the  Archdeacon  of  Bologna  to  discharge 
the  functions  of  chancellor  there,  and  that  in  Eng- 
land the  ecclesiastical  relations  of  the  universities 
were  even  closer  than  on  the  Continent  of  Europe. 
The  formal  appointment  of  a  chancellor  at  Prague 
by  the  pope  was,  accordingly,  a  matter  of  course. 
Indeed,  the  whole  history  of  mediaeval  univer- 
sities shows  that  the  pope  was  the  constant  referee 
when  questions  of  difficulty  arose,  even  prior  to 
any  formal  letters  of  privilege  or  protection  issuing 
from  him.  He  took  it  for  granted  that  he  was 
supreme  arbiter,  and  as  his  interference  generally 
brought  with  it  protection,  if  not  always  privilege, 
it  was  not  resented.  If  Paris  was  the  "mother," 
the  pope  was  the  "  father,"  of  universities.  And  now, 
in  1346,  we  find  Charles  at  once  recognizing  the 
hopelessness  of  founding  a  university  which  would 
have  any  academic  status  without  the  direct  support 
of  the  papal  chair.  After  this  date,  and  until  the 
Reformation,  we  find  that  important  universities  had 
usually  two  charters — the  one  papal,  the  other  royal 
or  imperial. 

Charles  called  professors  of  known  eminence  to 
Prague  and  gave  endowments  for  their  support.  He 
appointed  a  professor  of  theology,  but,  in  addition  to 
this  official,  other  teachers  or  professors  belonging  to 
the  monastic  orders  lectured  on  the  same  subject  in 
their  cloisters,  and  had  their  teaching  recognized  for 
graduation.      A   professor   of   law   was   called   from 


25S      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

Bologna,  and  a  professor  of  medicine  was  appointed 
to  represent  the  medical  faculty,  and  as  many  pro- 
fessors of  arts  as  there  were  liberal  arts  at  that  time 
recognized.  These  professors  gave  their  lectures  in 
their  own  dwellings,  there  being  no  public  university 
buildings.  To  all  the  sovereign  gave  a  fixed  salary  ; 
the  collegiate  churches  and  cloisters  being  required 
to  contribute,  as  (by  a  strange  coincidence)  in  these 
days  the  Colleges  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge  con- 
tribute to  professorial  salaries.  The  university  was 
divided  into  the  usual  four  faculties.  He  left  it  to 
the  university  itself  to  construct  its  statutes  according 
to  the  best  models.  This  was  a  recognition  of  its 
autonomy. 

The  members  of  the  university  were  divided  into 
four  nations.  The  highest  official  was  the  Rector, 
who  was  chosen  half-yearly.  Each  of  the  nations 
chose  an  elector ;  the  four  so  chosen  co-opted  seven 
others,  and  the  united  body  then  selected  five  by 
whom  the  rector  was  chosen.  The  office  of  rector 
could  not  be  filled  by  any  one  belonging  to  a  religious 
order.  The  most  important  duty  of  the  rector  was 
jurisdiction  over  all  members  of  the  university,  not 
only  in  ordinary  cases  of  discipline,  but  also  in  civil 
and  in  criminal  processes.  A  court  was  held  by 
him  twice  a  week.  His  next  most  important  duties 
were  to  see  that  the  statutes  of  the  university  were 
observed,  to  take  precedence  in  all  functions  of  the 
university,  and  to  administer  its  property.     A  vice- 


THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  PRAGUE.  259 

rector  was  also  appointed,  and  two  collectors  for  the 
administration  of  the  university  purse.  The  primary 
assembly,  whereby  its  statutes  were  made  or  altered, 
was  the  congregation  {congregatio  universitatis\  in 
which  masters  and  students  had  equal  votes.  By  an 
edict  of  the  archbishop,  a  special  university  council 
{concilium  universitatis),  consisting  of  eight  members, 
two  from  each  nation  {procurators  nationum\  was 
instituted,  to  be  elected  half-yearly.  These  nomi- 
nated their  successors,  and  were  almost  always 
*  masters "  of  the  university.  Ere  long  the  half- 
yearly  meetings  of  the  congregation  became  a 
mere  form,  for  the  council  of  the  university  exer- 
cised sole,  as  well  as  supreme,  power  in  conjunction 
with  the  rector,  so  that  before  the  end  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  Prague,  which  was  originally  a  uni- 
versitas  magistrorum  et  sckolariunt,  became,  practically, 
a  universitas  magistrorum  alone. 

Each  of  the  four  faculties  elected  a  dean.  In 
point  of  dignity  the  Deans  came  next  to  the  rector, 
just  as  the  rector  was  of  less  dignity  (though  of  more 
power)  than  the  chancellor,  who  conferred  degrees. 
In  the  discharge  of  their  special  official  work  both 
the  rector  and  the  deans  were  wholly  independent. 
The  deans  were  chosen  once  or  twice  a  year,  and 
with  them  were  chosen  two  collectors  for  each  faculty, 
to  manage  the  receipts  and  disbursements  specially 
belonging  to  it.    There  were  also  other  faculty  officers. 

The  university  gave  two  degrees — the  bachelorship, 


260      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

and  the  degree  of  master  or  doctor.  The  only 
difference  between  the  title  of  master  and  doctor  in 
Prague  was,  that  the  title  of  master  was  used  in  the 
faculties  of  theology  and  arts,  that  of  doctor  in  the 
faculties  of  law  and  medicine.  In  the  faculty  of  law 
there  were  two  degrees,  the  doctorate  in  canon  law 
and  that  in  civil  law. 

For  these  degrees  an  examination  was  held.  Four 
examiners  were  appointed,  one  out  of  each  nation,  and 
these  were  presided  over  by  the  dean  of  the  faculty 
in  which  the  student  sought  promotion.  Those 
who  passed  for  the  bachelor's  degree  were  arranged 
in  order  of  merit,  and  entered  in  this  order  in  the 
faculty  graduation  book.  The  fee  for  the  bachelor- 
ship was  twenty  Bohemian  groschen,  which  was  paid 
to  the  faculty,  but  was  always  remitted  in  the  case  of 
poor  students.  The  young  bachelor  had  to  swear  (i) 
that  he  would  give  lessons  for  two  years  in  the 
university ;  *  (2)  that  he  would  accept  a  like  degree 
from  no  other  university  ;  (3)  that  he  would  do  his 
utmost  to  promote  the  interests  of  his  university. 
The  examination  consisted  in  "  determining."  f  The 
candidate's  promoter  was  generally  the  master  whom 
he  had  most  regularly  attended  (or  in  whose  house 
he  had  lived),  and  the  bachelorship  was  conferred, 
not  by  the  university  through  the  chancellor,  but 
by  the  Faculty. 

*  Consider  the  bearing  of  this  on  the  question  of  "  inception  in  arts." 
t  See  next  lecture. 


THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  PRAGUE.  261 

The  mastership  for  which  the  bachelor  now  began 
to  prepare  himself,  by  teaching  and  by  attending 
lectures,  was  conferred  by  the  chancellor — the  ex- 
aminers being,  again,  four  in  number,  one  from  each 
nation.  The  chancellor  conferred  the  licencia  docendi, 
and  the  bachelor  was  then  called  a  licentiate.  It  was 
not  necessary  that  the  licentiate  should  take  the 
mastership,  which  was  only  a  ceremonial  act  of  admis- 
sion or  "  promotion  "  to  the  body  of  masters.  Without 
the  title  he  was  free  to  teach,  and  he  often  post- 
poned taking  the  mastership  because  of  the  expense, 
although,  until  he  took  it,  he  could  not  exercise  his 
rights  as  the  member  of  a  faculty. 

Most  of  the  masters  who  taught  kept  houses  in 
which  students  could  lodge,  and  in  these  houses  they 
also  carried  on  their  teaching.  The  custom  of  living 
in  masters'  houses  must  have  been  found  to  be  a 
necessary  protection,  for  in  1385  a  statute  was  passed 
prohibiting  students  from  living  anywhere  except 
with  a  master  or  a  bachelor,  unless  he  had  a  special 
dispensation. 

The  colleges  afterwards  founded  were  colleges  for 
masters. 

Almost,  if  not  quite,  from  the  beginning,  the  Faculty 
of  law  in  Prague  constituted  itself  into  a  separate 
university,  which  had  nothing  in  common  with  the 
other  three  faculties  except  the  chancellor.  And  yet 
the  statutes  gave  them  a  recognized  place  in  the 
university  as  a  whole.     It  was  called  the  juristen- 


262       MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

universitat,  and  had  a  collegiate  house  assigned  to 
it  by  Charles  in  1373. 

The  general  body  of  students  might  attend  what- 
ever lectures  they  pleased,  but  they  had  to  be  present 
at  not  fewer  than  three  a  week.  The  object  of  this 
was  to  prevent  people  enrolling  themselves  as  students 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  escaping  municipal  jurisdiction, 
and  living  under  the  independent  and  privileged 
jurisdiction  of  the  university.  For  those  studying 
for  degrees  special  subjects  and  classes  were  further 
prescribed. 

As  to  instruction :  the  general  method  was  by 
dictation,  the  students  writing  down  and  afterwards 
"getting  up"  the  lectures  of  their  masters.  The  scarcity 
and  cost  of  manuscript  books  made  this  course,  as  I 
have  frequently  pointed  out,  inevitable.  In  lecturing 
from  any  author,  a  master  was  free  to  give  his  own 
opinions ;  a  bachelor,  whose  business  was  incipere  in 
artibus,  was  restricted  to  the  letter  of  the  works  he 
read  to  the  younger  students,  and  had  to  submit  his 
proposed  readings  with  them  to  the  dean  of  his  faculty 
for  approval.  Just  as  the  bachelors  had  to  teach  for 
two  years,  so  masters  who  received  regular  stipends, 
or  had  a  place  in  a  college,  were  compelled  to  teach 
for  at  least  two  years.  The  magister  or  doctor 
regens  was  called  professor.  The  masters  arranged 
with  their  respective  faculties  their  proposed  courses, 
but  a  certain  restricted  competition  was  allowed — 
two   masters   (and    never  more    than    three)    being 


THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  PRAGUE.  2^3 

allowed  to  give  similar  courses.  The  students  paid 
fees  to  the  masters  they  attended,  but  the  poor  were 
constantly  exempted. 

The  "disputations"  which  were  carried  on  in 
the  lecture  halls  had  two  objects — the  clearing 
up  of  difficulties,  and  dialectic  practice.  Bachelors 
before  being  presented  for  their  degree  had  to  furnish 
evidence  that  they  had  taken  part  in  these  disputa- 
tions at  least  six  times.  They  were  held  on  Tuesdays 
and  Thursdays.  The  bachelors  who  were  going  for- 
ward to  the  mastership  had  to  be  always  present  at 
the  disputations,  and  take  part  in  them.  In  addition 
to  the  disputations  ordered  by  the  university,  each 
master  might  (with  permission)  hold  special  dispu- 
tations called  "  exercises "  with  his  own  pupils. 
Once  a  year  in  January  a  grand  disputation  was 
held,  called  disputatio  de  quolibet,  in  which  all  the 
regenting  masters  had  to  take  part.  The  question 
or  questions  were  submitted  in  writing  to  the  president 
of  the  disputation  four  days  before  it  took  place,  and 
the  discussion  used  to  extend  over  several  days. 

As  to  property :  the  university,  through  its  rector 
and  collectors,  administered  what  was  general — such 
as  the  funds  destined  for  the  salaries  of  the  ordinary 
professors.  Each  faculty  and  each  college,  however, 
had  also  its  separate  money-chest.  The  university 
income  came  in  the  form  of  matriculation  and 
graduation  fees,  fines,  and  taxes.*  It  was  not  usual 
*  I  do  not  know  from  what  sources  the  '  *  taxes  "  were  obtained. 


264      MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

y  for  a  student  to  enter  the  "  higher  M  faculties  until  a 
minor  course  in  arts  had  been  completed.  But  it  is 
not  distinctly  stated  whether  it  was  usual  to  go 
beyond  the  bachelorship  before  entering  the  "  higher  " 
faculties.  But  we  know  that  at,  and  even  before, 
the  date  of  the  Prague  foundation,  it  was  quite  usual 
in  Paris  to  go  forward  to  the  degrees  in  law  and 
medicine  without  taking  the  mastership  in  arts ;  but 
not  to  the  degrees  in  theology. 

We  may  learn  something  as  to  this,  I  think,  from 
the  order  of  precedence  in  public  ceremonials.  First 
came  the 

Masters  of  Theology. 
Doctors  of  Canon  Law. 

„  Civil  Law. 

Masters  of  Medicine  and  the  Dean4 

„  the  Faculty  of  Arts. 

Licentiates  of  Theology. 

„  Canon  Law. 

„  Civil  Law. 

„  Medicine. 

(Formed)  Bachelors  of  Theology. 

Masters  of  Arts. 
(Running)  Bachelors  of  Theology. 
Licentiates  of  Arts. 
Bachelors  of  Law. 

„  Medicine. 

Arts. 
If  we  remember  that  the  titles  doctor,  master,  and 


THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  PRAGUE.  265 

licentiate  all  denoted  the  same  degree  of  attainment, 
and  differed  only  in  so  far  as  the  "doctor"  or  "master" 
had  improved  his  university  status  by  going  through 
the  ceremony  of  "  promotion  "  after  he  had  taken  the 
licencia,  we  may  conclude  (1)  that  the  order  of 
precedence  as  regards  faculties  was  theology,  law, 
medicine,  and  arts  ;  (2)  that  before  entering  the 
theological  faculty  students  took  the  licence,  if  not 
also  the  mastership,  in  arts ;  (3)  that  the  students  of 
law  and  medicine  took  only  the  bachelorship  in  arts 
before  entering  their  professional  faculties  :  this  is 
very  interesting,  as  throwing  light  on  the  European 
custom  of  the  time ;  (4)  that  deans  of  faculties  did 
not  sit  with  the  procurators  and  rector  as  governing 
the  university.  In  this  respect  Charles  went  back  to 
the  older  constitution  of  Paris. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  follow  the  history  of  the 
University  of  Prague,  nor  indeed  of  any  university, 
except  in  so  far  as  certain  crises  in  their  gradual 
development  down  to  1350  throw  light  on  the  origin, 
constitution,  and  practical  working  of  universities 
generally.  In  this  connection,  the  secession  from 
Prague  in  1409  is  as  interesting  and  instructive  as 
that  from  Bologna  to  Padua  in  the  beginning  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  or  the  disruption  of  Paris  in  1229, 
or  the  secessions  from  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  In 
consequence  of  representations  made  to  him  by  the 
Bohemians  who  constituted  only  one  nation,  while 
the  Germans  were  divided  into  three,  the  sovereign 


266      MEDIAEVAL  ED  UC A  J  ION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

ordered  that  the  Germans  should  henceforth  be 
formed  into  only  one  nation,  and  the  Bohemians 
into  three.  This,  it  will  be  seen,  at  once  transferred 
the  whole  power  of  the  university  to  the  Sclavs. 
The  German  teachers  and  pupils  at  once  left  Prague, 
some  going  to  strengthen  the  newly  formed  uni- 
versities at  Vienna,  Erfurt,  and  Heidelberg ;  but 
the  greater  portion  settling  at  Leipsic,  and  so  laying 
the  foundation  of  the  university  there.  The  statutes 
and  constitution  of  Leipsic  were  modelled  on  those 
of  Prague.  The  constitution  of  the  first  German 
university  could  easily  be  shown  to  survive  in  the 
modern  universities  of  Germany  in  very  many  par- 
ticulars. The  chief  difference  is  the  direct  inter- 
vention of  the  State  in  the  conducting  of  examinations 
in  the  various  faculties. 

In  the  course  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth 
centuries  there  grew  up  in  Europe  ten  universities ; 
while  in  the  fourteenth  century  we  find  eighteen 
added ;  and  in  the  fifteenth  century  twenty-nine  arise, 
including  St.  Andrews  (141 1),  Glasgow  (1454), 
Aberdeen  (1477.)  The  great  intellectual  activity  of 
the  fourteenth  century,  which  led  to  the  rise  of  so 
many  universities,  coincides  with  the  first  revival  of 
letters,  or  rather  was  one  manifestation  of  the  revival. 
We  see  this  period  illustrated  by  the  name  of 
Petrarch,  who,  with  many  other  men,  began  to  feel 
the  barrenness  of  scholasticism  and  the  significance 


THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  PRAGUE.  267 

of  classical  literature — an  intellectual  awakening  which 
in  the  religious  sphere  found  its  most  prominent  ex- 
ponents in  Wickliffe  and  Huss.  The  new  current  had 
to  run  underground  during  the  French  wars  and  the 
War  of  the  Roses,  but  its  influence  was  felt,  in  the 
teaching  at  least  of  the  Continental  universities, 
throughout  the  fifteenth  century,  till  it  culminated  in 
the  second  revival — the  period  of  the  Humanists  and 
the  Lutheran  Reformation.  The  great  increase  in  the 
number  of  universities  in  the  fifteenth  century  was  not, 
however,  solely  due  to  the  influence  of  new  ideas,  but 
also  to  the  desire  of  the  papal  power  to  break  down 
the  domination  of  Paris,  especially  after  the  Council 
of  Basel. 

Were  it  not  that  it  would  occupy  too  much  space, 
I  might  here  comment  on  the  constitution  of  the 
Prague  University,  with  a  view  especially  to  throwing 
light  on  that  of  Paris.    Meanwhile  I  omit  this. 


LECTURE  XV. 

UNIVERSITY  STUDIES  AND  THE  CONDITIONS  OF 
GRADUATION. 

In  this,  as  in  other  university  characteristics,  there 
was  an  historical  continuity.  The  work  done  in  the 
mediaeval  universities  by  the  candidates  for  the 
bachelorship  was  the  same  as  that  which  I  have 
already  described  as  constituting  the  trivial  curri- 
culum of  monastery  and  cathedral  schools,  but  some- 
what more  extensive  and  better  organized.  There 
was  a  distinct  educational  advance.  But  it  has  to  be 
observed  that,  as  in  an  account  of  the  curriculum  of 
the  pre-university  schools  of  Europe  it  was  necessary 
to  be  guided  by  the  practice  of  the  best  seminaries, 
so,  in  the  case  of  the  universities,  we  have  to  bear  in 
mind  that  while  the  trivium — "  grammar  (including 
ancient  literature),  rhetoric,  and  dialectic" — has  an 
imposing  sound,  the  actual  work  accomplished,  and 
consequently  the  attainments  of  bachelors,  whose 
average  age  over  Europe  generally  could  not  be  more 
than   seventeen    or    eighteen,   were    not   very  high. 


UNIVERSITY  S7UDIES.  269 

There  was,  I  say,  no  sudden  breach  of  continuity  in 
the  curriculum  of  instruction  in  so  far  as  it  contem- 
plated a  general  education,  and  there  was  no  better 
education  in  the  humanities  to  be  had  in  the  univer- 
sities than  Bernard  of  Chartres  was  giving  about  the 
time  the  University  of  Paris  began  to  exist.  No 
doubt  one  or  two  teachers  had  preserved  the  tradition 
of  Chartres  till  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century ;  but 
this  is  all  that  can  be  said,  if  we  are  to  attach  due 
value  to  the  complaints  of  John  of  Salisbury,  who  may 
be  regarded  as  the  humanist  of  that  period,  and  after- 
wards of  Grossteste,  Roger  Bacon,  and  others. 

It  was  in  the  higher  development  and  specializa- 
tion of  medicine,  civil  law,  and  theology  (with  phi- 
losophy) that  the  university  movement  broke  away 
from  the  mediaeval  and  monkish  system. 

At  the  university  seats,  the  more  important  parts 
of  the  grammars  of  Donatus  and  Priscian  were,  as 
at  the  monastery  and  cathedral  schools,  dictated, 
explained,  and  learned  by  heart ;  and  this  after  the 
boys  had  left  the  grammar  school  and  become  "  arts  " 
students.  In  the  earlier  part  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  Priscian's  grammar  was  reduced  to  verse 
(leonine)  by  a  regent  of  Paris,  Alexander  de  Villedieu 
(de  Villa  dei),  and  this  book  became,  up  to  the  middle 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  great  text-book.  Dia- 
lectic and  rhetoric  were  taught  from  epitomes.  Por- 
tions of  Cicero,  Virgil,  etc.,  continued  to  be  read  ; 
but  they  were  used,  as  in  the  cathedral  and  monastery 


270     MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

schools,   simply    as    illustrations    of    grammar    and 
rhetoric  rules,  not  studied  as  literature. 

It  is  clear  to  any  one  who  has  looked  into  co- 
temporary  writings  that  the  tendency  of  universities 
was  at  first,  and  for  long,  away  from  literature  and 
humanism.  Grammar  and  rhetoric  were  formal, 
—  a  study  of  rules  and  inaccurate  etymologies. 
Dialectic  was  logic  in  its  most  barren  form.  The 
true  intellectual  life  of  universities  was  to  be  found 
in  the  specialized  studies  of  medicine,  theology, 
including  philosophy  or  the  higher  dialectic,  and 
law.  It  is  quite  true,  as  I  believe  I  have  shown,  that 
the  grammatical  and  literary  instruction  of  the  pre- 
university  schools  was,  except  in  the  hands  of  a  teacher 
here  and  there,  restricted,  arid,  and  uncultivating. 
But  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  rise 
of  university  teaching  effected  much  change.  On  the 
contrary,  the  method  of  procedure  was  perpetuated ; 
and  this  even  above  the  "trivial"  stage,  when  we 
should  have  expected  the  study  of  the  "  humanities  " 
to  enter.  Humane  studies  were  entirely  overshadowed 
in  Paris  and  the  universities  which  followed  that 
model,  by  philosophy,  which  was  generally  limited 
to  dialectic  disputations  on  definitions,  the  nature  of 
ideas,  and  the  relative  questions  of  metaphysical  the- 
ology. The  neglect  of  literature  led  to  barbarism  in 
style.  The  report  which  John  of  Salisbury  gives  of 
Paris  in  1 136  is  only  one  of  numerous  evidences  of  this. 
These  studies,  however,  unfruitful  as  they  might  be  in 


UNIVERSITY  STUDIES,  271 

their  immediate  results,  cultivated  acuteness  of  mind, 
loosened  old  conviction,  and  laid  the  foundations  of 
modern  rationalism. 

In  giving  instruction,  the  order  of  the  day  was 
generally  as  follows  : — 

The  regent  usually  met  his  pupils  three  times 
daily — at  sunrise,  at  noon,  and  towards  the  evening — 
and  at  one  of  these  meetings  determining  (defining) 
and  disputation  occupied  the  time.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  want  of  books  gave  great  opportunities 
to  a  regent  of  high  teaching  capacity  to  show  what  he 
could  do.  It  also  compelled  in  the  pupil  an  amount 
of  memory-work,  and  of  reflection  on  the  lessons 
dictated,  which  must  have  been  highly  effectual  for 
the  formal  discipline  of  the  mind. 

Robert  de  Counjon,  the  papal  legate,  fixed  in  the 
earlier  part  of  the  thirteenth  century  the  books  to  be 
lectured  on  in  the  Paris  faculty  of  arts  for  the  master- 
ship— viz.  Aristotle,  in  so  far  as  he  bore  on  dialectic 
and  ethics;  "Topics"  (fourth  book);  Priscian  (with 
the  abridgment) ;  and  other  works,  by  authors  now 
unknown,  on  philosophy,  rhetoric,  mathematics,  and 
grammar.  The  Metaphysics  and  Physics  of  Aristotle 
were  proscribed,  but  the  interdict  was  subsequently 
removed.  The  most  popular  text-book  of  logic  was, 
for  centuries,  the  "  Summulae  "  of  Petrus  Hispanus. 
The  reforms  of  the  papal  legate  were  carried  out 
before   a   distinct   faculty   of   theology   was   formed. 

But  theology  was,  yet,  recognized  by  him  as  a  separate 
20 


272      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

study  (facultas  in  its  earlier  sense),  and  none  allowed  to 
lecture  in  it  "  publicly  "  till  they  were  thirty-five  years 
of  age.  The  highest  study  of  the  Universities  of  Paris 
and  England  was  theology ;  but  let  us  never  forget 
that  theology  comprehended  philosophy,  and  indeed 
frequently  touched  the  whole  range  of  knowledge. 
At  first  and  for  long,  however,  theology  was  apt  to  be 
buried  under  dialectic  disputations  in  a  narrow  sense. 

Text-books  of  theology,  or  "  Sentences,"  had 
come  from  various  hands  long  before  this  time; 
the  science  had  been  thoroughly  systematized  and 
reduced  to  a  corpus  by  the  famous  Peter  the  Lombard, 
after  many  attempts  by  others.  His  "  Liber  Senten- 
tiarum  "  became,  from  1 150,  the  universal  text-book  of 
the  schools— text-book  of  philosophy  as  well  as  of 
theology — although  his  systematization  was  based 
very  largely  on  Scripture  and  the  Fathers.  The 
writing  to  dictation,  the  discussion,  and  reproduction 
of  this  book,  seem  to  have  been  the  great  end  of 
theological  study,  the  master  or  doctor  of  theology 
confining  himself  to  commentaries  on  the  text ;  but, 
by  means  of  these  commentaries,  a  great  deal  of 
Aristotelianism,  pure  or  spurious,  was  always  taught. 

In  1257-1270,  the  religious  orders,  after  a  struggle, 
secured,  as  I  have  previously  mentioned,  the  recogni- 
tion of  their  own  claustral  teaching  by  the  University 
of  Paris,  and  became  an  integral  part  of  it,  sharing 
in  its  privileges.  But  in  order  to  preserve  the  supre- 
macy of  "arts,"    which    up  to   that   time   included 


UNIVERSITY  STUDIES.  273 

theology,  the  "  faculty "  of  theology  was  created,  and 
assigned  a  subordinate  place  in  the  university  organi- 
zation to  that  of  arts.  But  none  the  less  did  theology 
continue  to  be  regarded  as  queen  of  the  sciences. 

Again,  about  the  time  that  Petrus  Lombardus 
issued  his  Corpus  Theologiae,  there  emanated  from 
Bologna  (1157)  a  Corpus  juris  Canonici,  which  went 
by  the  name  of  the  Decretum.  Thereafter,  canon 
law,  which  had  been  previously  studied  as  part  of  the 
general  theological  course,  now  became  a  separate  and 
specialized  study  under  the  direct  mandate  of  the  pope. 
Hence  arose  the  faculty  of  the  decree  or  the  canon  law. 

Meanwhile  the  old  Theodosian  Code  had  been 
superseded  by  the  labours  of  Irnerius  and  his  pupils, 
and  the  issue  of  the  "Pandects"  of  Justinian,  about  the 
middle  of  the  same  century,  gave  rise  to  the  faculty 
of  civil  law. 

Even  the  higher  teaching  of  all  the  universities 
was  confined  to  the  dictation  and  exposition  of  the 
recognized  authoritative  books  which  I  have  named. 
Intellectual  activity  had  to  expend  itself — not,  how- 
ever, fruitlessly — on  the  definitions  and  propositions 
involved  in  the  dogmatic  utterances  of  the  recognized 
authorities.  No  doubt  these  discussions  gave  occasion 
for  much  dialectic  absurdity  as  well  as  subtlety.  They 
are  regarded  with  feelings  of  contempt  by  some.  But 
this  is  to  misread  history.  For  such  dialectic,  even  in 
its  crudest  form,  was  in  marked  and  significant  con- 


274     MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

trast  to  the  dead  conformity  of  the  centuries  preced- 
ing universities,  and  familiarized  the  minds  of  the 
students  to  a  quasi-independence  in  speculation  which 
had  great  issues.  When  Thomas  Aquinas  had  written, 
and  Duns  Scotus  speculated,  theology  tended  to  pass 
more  and  more  into  metaphysics.  Scotus  Erigena 
had  at  last  triumphed.  Prior  to  the  intellectual 
movement  which  led  to  the  specialization  of  theology 
as  including  dialectic,  the  theological  teaching  was 
simply  a  study  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Fathers.  To 
study,  copy,  compile,  and  abridge  the  latter  was  the 
task  of  the  professed  theologian,  and  what  was  sought 
was  not  proof,  but  authority.  Scholastic  theology, 
on  the  other  hand,  meant  the  systematizing  of  theo- 
logy on  the  basis  of  reason  as  well  as  of  authority, 
and  its  method  of  procedure  was  by  way  of  axioms, 
definitions,  and  deductions. 

Graduation* — For  the  B.  A.  degree  it  may  perhaps 
seem  to  us  that  the  university  requirements  were  con- 
temptible, viz.  grammar,  with  elementary  logic  and 
rhetoric ;  but  if  we  keep  in  mind  the  youth  of  the 
candidates,  the  want  of  books,  and  the  method  of 
teaching,  we  shall  be  satisfied  that  even  this  minor 
degree  marked  the  conclusion  of  a  period  of  hard  and 
sustained  work.  There  was  no  food  for  the  mind,  but 
there  was  a  great  deal  of  severe  discipline  of  the 
memory  and  intellect.  After  a  disciplinary  course  of 
three  or  four  years,  the  young  student  "  determined/' 

*  See  also  Lecture  XII. 


UNIVERSITY  STUDIES,  275 

that  is  to  say,  he  defined  or  determined,  logical  terms 
and  propositions  in  the  presence  of  his  master  and 
fellow-students,  and  maintained  his  definitions  against 
objectors.  This  having  been  done  satisfactorily,  he 
was  named  a  bachelor  by  the  masters  of  that  subject, 
and  had  now  the  right  to  wear  a  round  cap,  and  not 
only  the  right,  but  the  obligation,  to  teach  freshmen. 
He  was  then  said  incipere  in  artibus.* 

For  the  Mastership  his  qualification  was  teaching 
in  this  private  fashion  (generally  under  some  master) 
for  a  few  years  (apparently  three),  and  attending  public 
lectures,  till  he  considered  himself  qualified  to  apply 
for  the  licencia.  In  1215,  Robert  de  Courgon,  the 
papal  legate  who  had  been  appointed  to  settle  differ- 
ences that  arose  in  Paris,  decreed  that  none  should 
lecture  or  teach,  i.e.  publicly  as  a  magister,  till  he 
was  twenty-one,  and  had  attended  six  years  in  arts 
and  had  passed  an  examination. 

This  examination  consisted  in  maintaining  theses 
or  disputations  in  public.  The  candidate  was  then 
presented  by  the  other  masters  to  the  Chancellor 
for  the  licence,  which  gave  him  freedom  to  teach 
publicly  all  and  sundry,  and  made  him  a  member 
of  the  university  in  the  fullest  sense — the  master- 
ship being  merely  (as  I  have  previously  explained) 
a  ceremonial  act  following  the  licence.  In  the 
fourteenth  century,  when  the  graduation  system  was 

*  This  is  my  interpretation  of  "inception  "  at  Taris.    I  fail,  after  many 
perusals,  to  understand  Mr.Mullinger's  account  of  inception  at  Cambridge. 


276      MEDIMVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

more  fully  organized,  the  artist  who  desired  a  master- 
ship (unless  he  confined  himself  to  a  mastership  in 
grammar  alone*)  had  to  study  first  arithmetic  and 
music,  then  geometry  and  perspective,  and  finally 
astronomy ;  but  the  higher  dialectic  seems  to  have 
always  governed  the  other  schools.  From  the  letter 
of  the  Paris  masters  (1254)  we  learn  that  arts  included 
ethics  and  the  philosophy  of  nature. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  whether  all  the  above-named 
subjects  were  compulsory,  as  preparatory  for  the  licen- 
tiateship  (or  mastership)  in  Arts.  A  decided  advance 
seems  to  have  been  made  in  the  mathematical  studies 
at  the  universities  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
centuries ;  but,  at  best,  the  mathematical  attainment 
was  very  narrow  in  its  range.  Roger  Bacon  (died 
1294)  complains  that  in  his  time  very  few  went 
beyond  the  fifth  proposition  of  the  first  book  of 
Euclid ;  and  for  two  or  three  centuries  after  his  time, 
the  six  books  were  regarded  as  a  very  ample  mathe- 
matical equipment.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
metaphysics,  in  some  form  or  other,  dominated  the 
upper  schools,  and  indeed  the  whole  university  both 
before  and  after  St.  Thomas  Aquinas. 

In  theology,  a  course  of  five  years  was  required  by 
De  Courgon  to  qualify  for  private,  and  a  course  of  eight 
years  for  a  public,  course  of  lectures. 

*  This  grammar  degree  for  those  who  wished  to  be  teachers  of  gram- 
mar schools  existed,  I  think,  only  in  England.  It  was  a  schoolmaster's 
degree 


UNIVERSITY  STUDIES.  277 

The  above  brief  sketch  is  of  general  application, 
and  though  specially  relating  to  Paris,  is  in  the  main 
true  of  university  studies  as  a  whole  down  to  the 
Humanistic  revival  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth 
century. 

A  slight  sketch  of  the  peculiarities  of  Bologna  is, 
however,  necessary  in  order  to  show  the  influence  it 
had  on  subsequent  university  organizations.  The 
course  of  instruction  there  consisted  of  lectures,  repe- 
titions, and  disputations.  It  was  only  towards  the 
end  of  the  thirteenth  century  that  the  word  "bacha- 
larius"  is  found  at  Bologna,  and  then  confined  to 
mark  a  stage  in  the  study  of  law,  not  of  arts.  A 
student  who  had  studied  under  the  doctors  (and  the 
lecturing  and  disputation  system  seems  to  have  been 
very  strictly  organized)  for  a  certain  number  of  years 
might  get  permission  from  the  Rector,  on  payment  of 
a  certain  sum,  to  conduct  "  repetitions."  A  repetitio 
was  the  taking  up  of  some  point  or  text,  already  ex- 
pounded, generally  in  a  doctors  lecture,  and  con- 
sidering all  possible  difficulties  suggested  by  it,  and 
all  possible  objections.*  The  text  of  a  repetitio 
was  announced  some  days  beforehand.  After  one 
year  of  this  work,  the  aspirant  was  called  Bachalarius. 
For  the  Licencia,  the  bachelor  continued  to  attend 
the  doctors,  and  had  to  take  part  in  the  periodical 
disputations,  which  could   be    held    only  under  the 

•  A  somewhat  similar  kind  of  disputation  was  known  even  in  the 
private  provincial  schools  of  law  under  the  empire. 


278      MEDIMVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

presidency  of  the  doctors.  Scholars  were  also  free  to 
take  part  in  these.  The  qucestio  of  a  disputation  was, 
like  the  text  of  a  repetitio,  always  posted  up  some 
days  before  the  meeting. 

After  having  studied  law  eight  years  in  all,  the 
bachelor  applied  for  the  licencia.  For  this  there  were 
two  examinations,  a  private  and  then  a  public.  The 
candidate  selected  a  doctor  as  his  promoter.  Two 
texts  were  prescribed  by  him  on  which  the  candidate 
had  to  write  a  criticism.  He  then  appeared  before  the 
college  of  doctors.  The  promoting  doctor  had  alone 
the  right  to  examine  his  candidate  generally,  but  the 
other  assembled  doctors  present  might  put  questions 
on  the  prescribed  texts.  They  then  voted,  and  the 
candidate,  if  successful,  became  a  licentiate.  The  next 
or  public  step  (the  Conventus)  was  for  the  candidate 
to  go,  in  festive  manner,  to  the  cathedral,  and  there 
deliver  a  lecture  on  some  point  of  law,  and  submit 
to  any  discussion  arising  out  of  the  lecture  into  which 
the  students  might  draw  him.  This  was  the  public 
examination,  evidently  of  a  merely  ceremonial  charac- 
ter ;  and  after  it,  the  archdeacon  proclaimed  the  new 
doctor  and  his  right  to  the  insignia.  The  hat  and  the 
ring  and  the  book  were  then  formally  presented  to 
him  by  his  promoter  or  promoters.  The  public  exami- 
nation might  follow  close  on  the  private  one.* 

*  The  doctors  seem  to  have  divided  the  graduation  fees  among  them, 
the  promoter  getting  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  whole. 

The  above  order  of  graduation  was  in  existence  in  the  thirteenth 


UNIVERSITY  STUDIES.  279 

As  to  England :  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries,*  the  want  of  grammar  schools  throughout 
England  led  to  a  large  influx  of  boys  of  eleven  or 
twelve  years  of  age  to  Oxford  and  Cambridge. 
There  were  numerous  monastery  and  cathedral 
schools,  but  these  were  generally  in  a  decayed  or 
decaying  condition ;  and  it  can  easily  be  understood 
that  if  a  boy  had  to  leave  Yorkshire  or  Sussex  for 
his  education,  he  would  prefer  wending  his  way  at 
once  to  the  famous  centres,  where  preparatory  in- 
struction was  fully  organized,  to  entering  himself  at 
a  cathedral  school  of  less  reputation.  To  meet  the 
wants  of  these  boys,  the  schools  of  the  Grammatici 
were  numerous  at  both  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and 
these  the  boy  attended  until  he  was  qualified  to 
enter  the  university  as  an  arts  student  or  artist. 

The  reflex  effect  of  the  competition  of  the  uni- 
versities on  provincial,  cathedral,  and  monastic  schools 
can  easily  be  understood.  These  found  their  work 
done  for  them,  and  largely  ceased  to  do  it.  The  weak 
"  secondary  "  schools  (as  we  should  now  call  them) 
became  weaker.  "  As  the  universities,"  says  Warton, 
"began  to  flourish,  .  .  .  the  monasteries,  of  course, 

century.  It  was  only  after  12 19,  apparently,  that  the  archdeacon  had  a 
part  to  play  in  the  ceremony.  Even  then  his  duty  was  purely  formal 
and  official.  Abuses  in  granting  the  degree  had  arisen,  and  the  pope 
appointed  the  archdeacon  to  an  office  similar  to  that  of  the  cathedral 
chancellor  at  Paris. 

*  And  we  may  add  the  fifteenth.  William  Bingham,  who  founded 
Clare  Hall,  Cambridge,  says  that  in  1439  he  passed  seventy  deserted 
schools  in  travelling  from  Hampton  to  Ripon,  by  way  of  Coventry. 


280      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

grew  inattentive  to  studies  which  were  more  strongly 
encouraged,  more  commodiously  pursued,  and  more 
successfully  cultivated  in  other  places."  To  meet 
this  evil  to  some  extent,  the  abbeys  and  monasteries 
and  cathedrals  began  to  send  boys  to  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  with  small  allowances,  and  after  1335 
every  Benedictine  and  Augustinian  monastery  was 
ordered  to  send  docile  boys  to  the  universities  in  the 
proportion  of  not  less  than  one  in  twenty  of  the 
whole  community  (Willis's  "Cambridge").  It  was 
only  after  the  age  for  matriculation  was  heightened, 
that  the  secondary  schools  of  England  reached  a 
standard  much  higher  than  that  of  a  superior  primary 
school.  We  see  also  in  Scotland  a  good  secondary 
school  system  made  impossible,  up  to  the  present 
day,  by  the  action  of  the  universities,  and  we  have 
even  in  recent  years  seen  that  action  defended  by 
disinterested  professors.  Neither  in  England  nor 
Scotland  have  we  yet  organized  a  secondary  system 
comparable  to  that  existing  during  the  first  three 
centuries  after  Christ  under  the  Flavian  and  Antonine 
dynasties  and  their  immediate  successors.  Thus  the 
standard  of  local  or  provincial  culture  is  depressed, 
and  the  first  year's  course  at  our  Scottish  seats  of 
learning  brings  discredit  on  the  very  name  of  univer- 
sity. After  all,  is  it  much  better  at  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge? What  are  the  private  records  of  the  "little 
go "  ?  The  universities  themselves  are  depressed  by 
the  dead  weight  of  the  incompetent  on  whom  they 


UNIVERSITY  STUDIES.  281 

spend  their  best  energies.  It  was  so  also  in  the  four- 
teenth century.  The  boys  at  the  grammar  schools  of 
the  university  had  to  rush  their  preparation,  and  as 
"they  were  not  grounded  in  their  first  rudiments  at 
the  proper  time,  they  built  a  tottering  edifice  on  an 
insecure  foundation."  * 

A  boy  who  had  gone  the  regular  course  in  the 
grammar  schools  would  find  himself  qualified  for  the 
university  generally  about  the  age  of  fourteen.  He 
then  matriculated  and  entered  himself  under  a  Master 
of  Arts,  by  whom  he  was  prepared  during  a  period 
of  four  years  for  Determinations,  i.e.  the  BA.  degree. 
In  Oxford  he  had  to  pass  the  half-way  house  of 
Responsions.  The  examination  at  Responsions  (and 
here  we  simply  summarize  Mr.  Anstey's  account) 
had  reference  to  grammar  and  arithmetic,  and  until 
he  passed  the  examination  the  scholar  was  called 
"  sophista  generalis ; "  after  this  his  designation  was 
"  questionist."  The  second  examination  embraced 
rhetoric  and  logic  (and  probably  music) ;  and  was 
called  "  determinations  "  because  of  the  questions  put 
to  the  candidate  to  be  determined.  Mr.  Anstey  says, 
"It  seems  to  me  that  at  Paris  determination  simply 
meant  defining  in  logic  and  rhetoric,  and  maintaining 
the  definition  against  the  master  or  other  determiners;" 
and  this  quite  accords  with  the  conclusion  to  which 
I  had  myself  come  in  the  case  of  Paris.  But  Mr. 
Mullinger  (p.  354)  points  out  that  at  Cambridge  the 

*  Richard  of  Bury  (died  1345),  quoted  by  Mullinger,  p.  206. 


*&z     MEDIEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

questionist  was  first  required  to  answer  questions — 
respoitdere  ad  qucestionem — and  this  seems  to  have 
been  the  true  examination  for  the  bachelorship.  When 
he  had  done  this  satisfactorily,  he  was  then  required 
for  a  certain  number  of  days  determinare  qucestionem, 
that  is  to  say,  to  preside  over  meetings  when  the 
quaestio  was  put,  and  to  sum  up  and  decide.  It  is 
only  in  this  presiding  over  meetings  that  the  Cam- 
bridge practice  really  differed  from  that  of  Paris  and 
Oxford. 

The  bachelor  who  was  still  in  statu  pupillari  now 
devoted  three  years  to  attendance  on  lectures  and 
disputations — studying  geometry,  astronomy,  and 
philosophy,  in  the  old  sense  of  that  term,  viz.  physics, 
ethics,  and  metaphysics.  At  every  stage  of  the 
student's  career,  text-books  were  prescribed,  and  no 
departure  from  these  allowed.  The  master  read  a 
portion  of  the  text  to  his  scholars,  and  then  proceeded 
to  prelect  on  it,  and  finally  raised  points  for  class 
discussion.  At  a  time  when  there  were  few  books, 
much  must  have  depended  on  the  acquired  learning 
and  teaching-power  of  the  master  whom  the  bachelors 
elected  to  attend.  The  method  of  teaching  was,  so 
far  as  it  went,  admirable. 

Three  years  having  elapsed  in  such  studies,  the 
bachelor  was  recommended  by  a  certain  number  of 
masters  to  the  Chancellor,  who  granted  him  a  licence 
to  "incept,"  i.e.  to  begin  lecturing  and  disputing  in 
arts  in  the  presence  of  an  audience   of  "masters/' 


UNIVERSITY  STUDIES.  283 

This  he  did  for  a  year  or  more  before  he  was  recog- 
nized as  a  H  master."  Mr.  Anstey  refers  the  festivi- 
ties, fees  and  presents  imposed  on  the  candidate  to 
the  period  of  inception,  and  does  not  point  to  any 
ceremony  of  magistration.*  The  Master  of  Arts 
might  then  remain  at  the  university  as  a  regent,  or 
go  out  to  the  world  as  one  of  the  regular  clergy 
or  as  a  schoolmaster.  If,  however,  he  desired  to 
continue  his  studies,  he  entered  one  of  the  higher 
faculties — medicine,  law,  or  theology — and  then  went 
through  a  course  substantially  similar  to  that  of  the 
arts  ;  "  masters  "  in  each  of  these  "  higher "  faculties 
being  ultimately  called  doctors,  to  distinguish  them 
from  Masters  of  arts.f 

I  have  followed  Mr.  Anstey  in  the  above  summary 
of  the  master's  course  and  inception  so  far  as  Oxford 
is  concerned.  Mr.  Mullinger  gives  a  somewhat  dif- 
ferent account  of  the  proceedings  at  Cambridge,  and 
one  more  closely  in  accord  with  the  continental 
practice.  The  chief  difference  is  that  Mr.  Anstey 
represents  the  candidate  as  being  declared  "  master  " 
after  an  exercise  at  public  lecturing  and  disputa- 
tion, and  says  that  this  was  followed  by  a  year's 
lecturing.  Is  Mr.  Anstey  not  mistaken  on  this  point  ? 
Again,  Mr.  Mullinger   points  out  that   the  bachelor 

*  At  Paris  the  "  licence  *  was  given  after  disputations  and  lecturing, 
and  the  ceremony  of  "magistration,"  with  all  its  attendant  expenses, 
followed  immediately  thereafter. 

t  But  for  long  the  word  "master"  in  theology  was  preferred  to 
"doctor"  at  Oxford. 


284     MEDIMVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

might  lecture  cursorii.  It  was  a  matter  of  course  in 
Paris  that  he  should  lend  assistance  in  preparing  the 
sophisters,  and  this  was  part  of  his  preparation  for  the 
licence.  In  Prague  also,  founded  on  the  Parisian 
model,  the  young  bachelor  was  required  to  promise  that 
he  would  teach  for  two  years.  I  do  not  quite  under- 
stand the  meaning  which  Mr.  Mullinger  would  attach 
to  the  bachelor's  lectures  cursorit.  From  my  own 
reading  I  would  explain  the  word  as  simply  mean- 
ing lectures  delivered  while  the  bachelor  was  running 
his  course  for  master.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  worthy 
of  remark  that  in  Prague  the  bachelor  was  always 
restricted  to  the  text-book,  and  prohibited  from 
explaining  or  expounding.  Hence,  perhaps,  a  secon- 
dary meaning  to  the  expression  "  cursory  lecturing." 

When  now  we  survey  the  school  grammar  course, 
the  university  baccalaurean  requirements,  the  subse- 
quent studies  for  the  Arts  mastership,  and  thereafter 
the  repetition  of  each  graduation  step  of  the  Arts 
course  in  the  higher  faculties,  and  compare  this  with 
the  scholastic  curriculum  of  the  eleventh  century,  we 
must  admit  that  the  education  of  Europe  had  in  the 
course  of  little  more  than  a  century  become  revo- 
lutionized. The  academic  organization  was  indeed 
already,  in  all  essential  respects,  complete,  and  we 
cannot  but  wonder  at  the  activity  of  mind  which  in 
so  short  a  time  produced  such  remarkable  changes. 
Along  with  the  new  organization  there  arose,  as  we 


UNIVERSITY  STUDIES.  285 

have  seen,  the  idea  of  a  literary  republic  independent 
of  monastic  rule,  and  a  freedom  of  speculation  within 
this  republic  out  of  which  has  come  our  modern  life. 
From  time  to  time  the  Church,  as  represented  by  its 
central  authority  at  Rome,  had  its  own  difficulties  with 
individuals,  especially  at  Paris  and  Oxford ;  but  on 
the  whole,  up  to  the  fifteenth  century,  it  was  the  nurse 
of  universities,  and  regarded  them  with  favour.  It 
threw  its  shield  over  them  more  than  once.  We  may 
indeed  suspect  that  its  patronage  had  often  political 
aims,  and  that  it  hoped,  by  securing  a  direct  and 
ultramontanist  allegiance,  to  weaken  the  nationalism 
of  the  academic  clerics.  If  the  pope  had  this  pur- 
pose, then,  spite  of  occasional  successes,  he  ultimately 
failed.  The  sporadic  humanism  of  the  thirteenth 
century  reappeared  in  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  in  full 
force,  and,  aided  by  the  art  of  printing,  was,  then  and 
for  ever,  too  strong  for  pope  or  monk.  It  has  had  its 
own  battle  since,  and  has  it  now — a  battle  that  has  to 
be  fought  with  Protestant  obscurantism  as  well  as  with 
ultramontanism.  But  it  cannot  fail  to  be  victorious. 
for  it  represents  the  mobility  of  the  spirit  of  man  as 
opposed  to  crystallized  formsr  and  the  essential  freedom 
of  mind  as  opposed  to  the  tyrannous  usurpation  of  the 
empire  of  reason  by  mere  authority.  The  Catholic 
idea  of  the  spiritual  unity  of  mankind  was  certainly  a 
grand  one,  but  it  is  not  to  be  accomplished  by  utter- 
ances ex  cathedra,  nor,  indeed,  on  any  terms  yet  dis- 
cernible by  the  eye  of  either  historian  or  philosopher. 


286      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

Any  further  consideration  of  the  work  done  in  the 
universities  in  the  latter  portion  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
in  so  far  as  they  were  the  centres  of  speculation,  or 
reflected  the  ecclesiastical  and  political  movements 
of  successive  generations,  would  demand  special  and 
extended  treatment  The  historian  would  have  to 
take  for  his  guide  the  special  histories  of  medicine,  of 
Roman  law,  of  philosophy  and  philology,  down  to 
about  the  year  1500;  and,  thereafter,  the  history 
of  the  Humanistic  revival  and  its  varied  fortunes. 
Especially  after  the  revival  of  letters,  the  annalist 
would  have  to  acknowledge  that  the  history  of  pro- 
gress of  the  human  intellect  no  longer  finds  its  ex- 
clusive centre  in  the  universities.  Outside  these, 
though  no  doubt  largely  influenced  by  them,  there 
has  run  a  parallel  influence,  literary,  scientific,  and 
philosophical,  which  would  have  to  be  taken  account 
of.  We  see  an  analogy  in  political  history  during  the 
last  century;  for  this  is  no  longer  to  be  studied  in 
the  formal  acts  of  kings,  cabinets,  and  councils,  but 
in  the  activity  of  the  Publicists  outside  these,  who 
first  supply  the  ideas,  and  then  largely  shape  the 
policy,  of  States.* 

The  mediaeval  universities  gave  a  liberal  interpre- 
tation to  *  Arts,"  I  have  said  ;  but  I  do  not  mean  it  to 

*  Even  in  1623  the  University  of  Oxford,  in  acknowledging  a 
presentation  copy  of  Bacon's  "De  Augmentis,"  says,  "She  (&/•  the 
university)  readily  acknowledged  that,  though  the  Muses  are  born  in 
Oxford,  they  grow  elsewhere." 


UNIVERSITY  STUDIES.  287 

be  inferred  that  they  consciously  aimed  at  free  and 
encyclopaedic  investigation.  The  idea  of  a  university 
as  an  academy  of  free  scientific  inquiry  may,  in  a 
sense,  have  existed  at  Athens,  or,  at  least,  at 
Alexandria,  but,  strictly  speaking,  it  is  a  modern 
conception.  The  universities  of  the  Middle  Ages 
had  to  discharge  their  functions  in  subordination  to 
the  Church.  Nor  did  they  attempt,  except  in  the 
department  of  metaphysics,  to  start  new  questions  of 
a  fundamental  kind.  The  business  of  the  doctors 
of  law  was  to  expound  the  civil  law  of  Justinian 
and  the  Decretum  of  Gratian,  and  if  they  extended 
their  area  at  all,  to  extend  it  by  means  of  interpre- 
tations and  commentaries.  In  medicine,  Galen  and 
Hippocrates  and  Avicenna,  or  manuals  based  on 
these  writers,  were  expounded,  and  extended  by  new 
observations.  In  theology,  the  decrees  of  the  councils 
were  expounded  and  commented  on,  and  the  authority 
of  the  Fathers  brought  into  requisition  in  support  of 
them,  the  great  text-book  being  the  Sententise  of  Peter 
the  Lombard  and  afterwards  the  Summa  of  Aquinas. 
As  regards  the  preliminary  course  of  studies  in  arts 
which  terminated  in  the  bachelorship,  it  was  confined 
very  much,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the  old  trivium — 
grammar,  dialectic,  and  rhetoric.  These  subjects  also 
were  taught  from  authoritative  books,  the  learners 
taking  ample  notes  from  the  dictation  of  the  masters, 
and  "getting  these  up."  It  was  only  in  connection 
with  the  philosophical  questions  closely  related  to 
21 


288     MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

theology,  that  discussions  early  arose  which  led  to  free 
thought,  and  foreshadowed  heresies.  The  practice  of 
disputation  in  the  schools  unquestionably  promoted 
freedom.  Not  only  those  seeking  the  higher  degree 
of  masters,  but  the  students,  had  to  debate  questions 
in  public  and  take  sides,  one  of  which  at  least  might 
lean  to  heterodoxy.  They  were  playing  with  danger- 
ous weapons,  as  it  turned  out.  But  during  the  first 
centuries  of  university  life  the  papal  authority  had 
no  fear  of  universities.  St.  Andrews,  in  Scotland, 
founded  so  late  as  141 1,  was  founded  by  the  pope 
(spite  of  all  that  had  happened  at  Paris)  for  the 
defence  of  the  faith.  So  with  Heidelberg  five  and 
twenty  years  before. 

The  true  Catholic  attitude  to  all  investigationwas^ 
and  is,  one  admitting  pf^reaj^  advances  in  _eyery 
department  of  learning,  while  checking  all  truejreg- 
dom  of  thought.  It  is  well  described  by  Mabillon 
when  speaking  of  the  use  of  reason  in  theology  :  "Hie 
autem  rationis  usus  malus  non  est  si  coercitus  intra 
terminos  et  a  regulis  limitatus.  .  .  .  Quiescere  non 
potest  unquam  hominum  ratio ;  minus  sufferre  leges, 
segerrime  limites  et  terminos.  Attamen  in  theologia 
pati  debet  eosdem  et  a  fide  accipere."*  He  also, 
quite  consistently  with  Catholic  interests,  guards  the 
faithful  against  dialectic  and  philosophy,  and  looks 
with  little  favour  on  the  practice  of  disputation. 

Even  in  these  days,  outside  Catholic  restrictions, 

*  "  De  Studiis  Monar,ticis,"  pt.  ii.  c.  vi.,  Latin  TYans.    )f  1702. 


UNIVERSITY  STUDIES.  289 

the  function  of  universities  in  the  body  politic  is  still 
debated.  There  seems  to  be  a  growing  consensus  of 
opinion,  however,  in  favour  of  the  view  that  they  must 
be  at  one  and  the  same  time  scientific  institutes  and 
training  schools  for  the  business  of  life. 

The  latter  function  of  universities — the  training 
of  the  youth  of  the  country  for  their  public  duties — 
has  been  very  well  expressed  in  the  North  American 
Review  for  October,  1842.  "In  the  colleges,"  the 
writer  says,  "  is  determined  the  character  of  most  of 
the  persons  who  are  to  fill  the  professions,  teach  the 
schools,  write  the  books,  and  do  most  of  the  business 
of  legislation  for  the  whole  body  of  the  people.  The 
general  direction  of  literature  and  politics,  the  prevail- 
ing habits  and  modes  of  thought  throughout  the 
country,  are  in  the  hands  of  men  whose  social  position 
and  early  advantages  have  given  them  an  influence, 
of  the  magnitude  and  permanency  of  which  the  pos- 
sessors themselves  are  hardly  conscious."  If  this  be 
true — as  it  undoubtedly  is— it  becomes  us  to  look 
upon  these  institutions  even  with  anxiety,  and  to 
cease  regarding  them  as  merely  large  schools  in 
which  knowledge  is  bought  and  sold.  The  prepara- 
tion for  public  life  must  be  an  organized  preparation. 

As  academic  institutes,  again,  devoted  to  the  in- 
vestigation and  propagation  of  truth,  they  are  to  be 
jealously  guarded.  Especially  in  these  days,  when  the 
influence  of  the  few  must  yield  to  the  voice  of  the 
many,  it  is  imperative  on  all  who  wish  well  to  their 


290      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND   UNIVERSITIES. 

country  to  hedge  round  with  privilege  all  centres  of 
intellectual  and  moral  power.  It  is  only  thus  that 
their  freedom  can  be  secured.  They  are  in  their 
essence  the  friends  of  true  liberty,  and  the  sworn 
foes  of  despotism,  whether  autocratic  or  democratic. 
Withdraw  organization,  privilege,  and  protection,  and 
they  are  dissolved  as  universities,  whatever  else  they 
may  become.  On  the  other  hand,  they  cannot  expect 
to  retain  at  once  the  privileges  of  a  public,  and  the 
irresponsibilities  of  a  private,  corporation.  Academic 
privileges,  like  the  political  or  social  privileges  of 
individuals  and  families,  whether  directly  conferred 
by  the  State  or  merely  acquiesced  in  by  it  as  a  tra- 
ditionary survival,  exist  for  public  purposes,  and  the 
return  which  the  universities  are  expected  to  give  is 
not  only  philosophical  and  scientific  guidance  to  the 
nation,  but  also  that  training  for  public  life  to  which 
the  American  writer  refers  in  the  passage  quoted 
above.  And  this  they  give,  I  think,  not  so  much  in 
the  formation  of  character  as  in  the  furnishing  of 
ideas  and  principles  of  action,  which  give  direction 
and  purpose  to  character  already  largely  formed  by 
the  home  and  the  school. 

Let  the  governing  members  of  universities  them- 
selves  realize  that  they  are  members  of  scientific  cor- 
porations. This  they  can  never  truly  be  while  they 
use  their  resources  for  the  enrichment  of  individuals, 
and  not  for  the  general  academic  good.  They  have, 
in  their  primary   idea    and   organization,   far  more 


UNIVERSITY  STUDIES.  291 

affinity  to  the  monastic  community  than  to  the  shop. 
Whatever  intrinsic  differences  there  may  be  in  the 
subjects  taught  and  the  persons  teaching  them,  all 
the  members  of  the  encyclopaedic  body  are  to  be 
recognized  as  discharging  functions  equally  important 
in  their  relation  to  the  universal  scientific  aim  and  to 
the  practical  wants  of  the  nation. 

From  the  fact  that  purely  professional  training^ 
pays,  there  has  always  been  a  tendency  in  univer- 
sities themselves  to  look  too  exclusively  to  the  prac- 
tjcal_aim_of  their  existence,  and_to  lose  sight  of  the 
purery^scientific  function.  Even  after  the  great  wave 
of  the  revival  had  passed  over  them,  they  failed  to 
realize  this  function.  We  find  Lord  Verulam  com- 
plaining of  the  narrow  aims  of  the  university  as  under- 
stood in  his  own  time.  In  his  u  Advancement  of 
Learning  "  he  says,  "  First,  then,  among  so  many  great 
foundations  of  colleges  in  Europe,  I  find  it  strange 
that  they  are  all  dedicated  to  professions,  and  none 
left  free  to  arts  and  sciences  at  large.  For,  if  men 
Judge  that  learning  should  bereferred  toaction,  they 
Judge  well ;  jbuMn  this  they  fall  into  the  error  de- 
scribed in  the  ancient  fable,  inwhich  the  other  parts 
of  the  body  did  suppose  the  stomach  had  been  idle 
because  it  neither  performed  jhe  office  of  motion 
as  the  limbs  joJji^r_of  sense  as  the  head__doth  ;  but 
yet,  notwithstanding,  it  is  the  stomach  that  digesteth 
and  distributeth  to  all  the  rest.  So  that  if  any  man 
thinks  philosophy  and  universality  to  be  idle  studies, 


292      MEDIAEVAL  EDUCATION  AND    UNIVERSITIES. 

he  doth  not  consider  that  all  professions  are  from 
thence  served  and  supplied.  And  this  I  take  to  be 
a  great  cause  that  hath  hindered  the  profession  of 
learning,  because  these  fundamental  knowledges  have 
been  studied  but  in  passage.  For  if  you  will  have 
a  tree  bear  more  fruit  than  it  used  to  do,  it  is  not 
anything  you  can  do  to  the  boughs,  but  it  is  the 
stirring  of  the  earth  and  putting  new  mould  about 
the  roots  that  must  work  it."  Lord  Verulam,  hope- 
less of  reforming  existing  institutions,  had  formed 
the  conception  of  a  great  university,  which  should  be 
the  mother  of  others,  and  which  should  be  devoted 
entirely  to  the  investigation  and  dissemination  of 
scientific  truth.  In  the  "New  Atlantis"  the  father 
of  Solomon's  House  sketches  an  university  on  a  vast 
scale,  not  yet,  nor  ever  likely  to  be,  realized.  The 
movement  of  late  years  for  the  endowment  of  research 
is  thus  only  the  revival  of  a  Baconian  dream.  Dr. 
Dollinger  also  speaks  of  universities  as  "  corporations 
devoted  to  the  advancement  of  the  kingdom  of  know- 
ledge by  means  of  investigation  and  literary  produc- 
tivity." Nay,  more,  as  "  the  supreme  court  of  appeal 
in  things  of  the  mind."  It  is  from  this  point  of  view 
that  he  ventures  to  say  that  "  Oxford  and  Cambridge 
are  as  far  removed  from  what  we  call  an  university  as 
heaven  from  earth" — are,  in  fact,  only  big  schools  where 
mere  gymnasium  work  is  prolonged.  We  are  content 
to  be  less  exacting  than  Bacon  and  Dollinger,  and  to 
be  satisfied  if  we  see  the  combination  of  scientific  re- 


UNIVERSITY  STUDIES.  293 

search  with  the  professional  instruction  of  youth  ;  and 
we  believe  that  the  one  is  essential  to  the  life  and 
virility  of  the  other.  A  professor's  true  attitude  was 
well  expressed  a  thousand  years  ago  by  a  humanist 
born  long  before  his  time — the  eminent  Loup  de 
Ferrieres — in  a  letter  to  Charles  the  Bald  :  "  I  desire 
to  teach  what  I  have  learned  and  am  daily  learning"  * 

*  Crevier,  i.  57,  edit.  1761. 


THE  END. 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


APPLE  TONS1   STUDENTS'  LIBRARY.     Con- 

***■  sisting  of  Thirty-four  Volumes  on  subjects  in  Science,  History, 
Literature,  and  Biography.  In  neat  i8mo  volumes,  bound  in 
half  leather,  in  uniform  style.  Each  set  put  up  in  a  box.  Sold 
in  sets  only.     Price,  per  set,  $20.00.     Containing  : 


Homer,     By  W.  E.  Gladstone. 
Shakspere.     By  E  Dowden. 
English   Literature.      By  S.  A. 

Brooke. 
Greek  Literature.  ByR.  C.  Jebb. 
Philology.     By  J.  Peile. 
English     Composition.        By    J. 

Nichol. 
Geography.     By  G.  Grove. 
Classical  Geography.     By  H.  F. 

Tozer. 
Introduction   to   Science    Prim- 
ers.    By  T.  H.  Huxley. 
Physiology.     By  M.  Forster. 
Chemistry.     By  H.  E.  Roscoe. 
Physics.     By  Balfour  Stewart. 
Geology.     By  A.  Geikie. 
Botany.     By  J.  D.  Hooker. 
Astronomy.     By  J.  N.  Lockyer. 
Physical     Geography.       By    A. 

Geikie. 
Political   Economy.      By  W.    S. 

Jevons. 
Logic.     By  W.  S.  Jevons. 
History  of   Europe.      By  E.  A. 

Freeman. 
History  of  France.     By  C.  M. 

Yonge. 
History  of  Rome.    By  M.  Creigh- 

ton. 
History  of   Greece.     By  C  A. 

Fyffe. 
Old  Greek  Life.     By  J.  P.  Ma- 

HAFFY. 

Roman    Antiquities.      By  A.    S. 

Wii.kins. 
Sophocles.     By  Lewis  Campbell. 
Euripides.     By  J.  P.  Mahaffy. 
Vergil.     By  Prof.  H.  Nettleship. 
Livy.     By  W.  W.  Capes. 
Demosthenes.    By  S.  H.  Butcher. 
Milton.     By  S.  A.  Brooke. 


5  vol. 

V 

V 

V 

V 
- 


I.. 


The     Apostolic     Fathers    and    the 

Apologists.    By  Rev.  G.  A.  Jackson. 
The  Fathers  of  the  Third  Century. 

By  Rev.  G.  A.  Jackson. 
Thomas  Carlyle:    His  Life,  his  Books, 

his  Theories.     By  A.  H.  Guernsey. 
Ralph    Waldo    Emerson,    Philosopher 

and  Poet.     By  A.  H.  Guernsey. 
Macaulay:   His  Life,  his  Writings.     By 

C.  H.  Jones. 
Short  Life  of  Charles  Dickens.    By 

C.  H.  Jones. 
Short  Life  of  Gladstone.     By  C.  H. 

Jones. 
Ruskin  on  Painting. 
Town  Geology.   By  Charles  Kingsley. 
The  Childhood  of  Religions.     By  E. 

Clodd. 
History  of  the  Early  Church.     By 

E.  M.  Sewell. 
The  Art  of  Speech.     Poetry  and  Prose. 

By  L.  T.  Townsend. 
The   Art  of  Speech.     Eloquence  and 

Logic.     By  L.  T.  Townsend. 
The  World's  Paradises.     By  S.  G.  W. 

Benjamin. 
The  Great  German  Composers.      By 

G.  T.  Ferris. 
The  Great  Italian  and  French  Com- 
posers.    By  G.  T.  Ferris. 
Great  Singers.     First  Series.     By  G. 

T.  Ferris. 
Great  Singers.     Second  Series.     By  G. 

T.  Ferris. 
Great  Violinists  and  Pianists.      By 

G.  T.  Ferris. 


APPLE  TONS'     ATLAS    OF     THE     UNITED 

-*-*     STA  TES.     Consisting  of  General  Maps  of  the  United  States 

and  Territories,  and  a  County  Map  of  each  of  the  States,  printed 

in  Colors.     Imperial  8vo.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

The  Atlas  also  contains  Descriptive  Text  outlining  the  History,  Geog.aphy,  and 
Political  and  Educational  Organization  of  the  States,  with  latest  Statistics  of  their 
Resources  and  Industries.      

NEW    YORK:    D.    APPLETON    &    CO.,    PUBLISHERS. 


T 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.S  PUBLICATIONS. 


WE  SCIENCE  OF  LA  W.     By  Professor  Sheldon 
Amos,  M.  A.     i2mo.    Cloth,  $1.75. 

CONTENTS.-— Chapter  I.  Recent  History  and  Present  Condkion  of  the  Science 
of  Law;  II.  Province  and  Limits  of  the  Science  of  Law;  111.  Law  and  Morality; 
IV.  The  Growth  of  Law ;  V.  The  Growth  of  Law  (continued) ;  Vf.  Elementary  Con- 
ceptions and  Terms;  VII.  Law  in  Relation  to  (i)  the  State,  (2)  the  Family,  (3)  the 
other  Constituent  Elements  of  the  Race;  VIII.  Laws  of  Ownership  of  Property;  IX. 
Law  of  Contract;  X.  Criminal  Law  and  Procedure;  XL  The  Law  of  Civil  Procedure; 
XII.  International  Law ;    X11L  Codification;    XIV.  Law  and  Government. 

"  Professor  Amos  has  certainly  done  much  to  clear  the  science  of  law  from  the  tech- 
nical obscurities  which  darken  it  to  minds  which  have  had  no  legal  training,  and  to  make 
clear  to  his  '  lay '  readers  in  how  true  and  high  a  sense  it  can  assert  its  right  to  be  con- 
sidered a  science,  and  not  a  mere  practice." — Christian  Register. 


T 


HE  SCIENCE  OF  POLITICS.  By  Professor 
Sheldon  Amos,  M.A.,  author  of  "  The  Science  of  Law," 
etc.     i2mo.    Cloth,  $1.75. 

CONTENTS.— Chapter  I.  Nature  and  Limits  of  the  Science  of  Politics ;  II.  Po- 
litical Terms ;  III.  Political  Reasoning ;  IV.  The  Geographical  Area  of  Modern  Poli- 
tics; V.  The  Primary  Elements  of  Political  Life  and  Action;  VI.  Constitutions;  VII. 
Local  Government;  VIII.  The  Government  of  Dependencies;  IX.  Foreign  Relations ; 
X.  The  Province  of  Government ;  XL  Revolutions  in  States ;  XII.  Right  and  Wrong 
in  Politics. 

14  The  author  traces  the  subject  from  Plato  and  Aristotle  in  Greece,  and  Cicero  in 
Rome,  to  the  modern  schools  in  the  English  field,  not  slighting  the  teachings  of  the 
American  Revolution  or  the  lessons  of  the  French  Revolution  of  1793.  Forms  of  gov- 
ernment, political  terms,  the  relation  of  law,  written  and  unwritten,  to  the  subject,  a 
codification  from  Justinian  to  Napoleon  in  France  and  Field  in  America,  are  treated  as 
parts  of  the  subject  in  hand.  Necessarily  the  subjects  of  executive  and  legislative  au- 
thority, police,  liquor,  and  land  laws  are  considered,  and  the  question  ever  growing  in 
importance  in  all  countries,  the  relations  of  corporations  to  the  state." — N.  Y.  Observer. 

f\TGEST  OF    THE   LAWS,    CUSTOMS,    MAN- 

J-J  NERS,   AND  INSTITUTIONS   OF  ANCIENT  AND 

MODERN  NA  TIONS.    By  Thomas  Dew,  late  President  of 

the  College  of  William  and  Mary.     8vo.     Cloth,  $2.00. 

No  pains  have  been  spared  by  the  author  to  secure  accuracy  in  facts  and  figures ;  and 
in  doubtful  cases  references  are  given  in  parentheses,  so  that  the  strident  can  readily 
satisfy  himself  by  going  to  original  sources.  The  department  of  Modern  History,  too 
often  neglected  in  works  of  this  kind,  has  received  special  care  and  attention. 


R 


OMAN  LAW ;  Its  History  and  System  of  Private 
Law.  In  Twelve  Academical  Lectures.  By  Professor  James 
Hadley.     i2mo.     Cloth,  $1.25. 

"The  most  valuable  short  account  of  the  nature  and  importance  of  the  body  of  Ro- 
man law.  The  lectures  are  free  from  embarrassing  technical  details,  while  at  the  same 
time  they  are  sufficiently  elaborate  to  give  a  definite  idea  of  the  nature  and  the  great- 
ness of  the  subject." — Dr.  C.  K.  Adams's  Manual  of  Historical  Literature. 


New  York:   D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  Street. 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

/NTRODUCTION  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  PHI- 
LOSOPHY.   By  William  T.  Harris,  LL.  D.,  United  States 
Commissioner  of  Education.     Compiled  and  arranged  by  Mari- 
etta Kies.     i2mo.     Cloth,  $1.50. 
"  Philosophy  as  presented  by  Dr.  Harris  gives  to  the  student  an  interpretation  and 
explanation  of  the  phases  of  existence  which  render  even  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life  in 
accordance  with  reason ;  and  for  the  higher  or  spiritual  phases  of  life  his  interpreta- 
tions have  the  power  of  a  great  illumination.     Many  of  the  students  are  apparently 
awakened  to  an  interest  in  philosophy,  not  only  as  a  subject  to  be  taken  as  a  pre- 
scribed study,  but  also  as  a  subject  of  fruitful  interest  for  future  years  and  as  a  key 
which  unlocks  many  of  the  mysteries  of  other  subjects  pursued  in  a  college  course." — 
From  the  Compiler's  Preface. 

A  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  PHILOSOPHY  IN  EPITOME. 
<**-  By  Albert  Schwegler.  Translated  from  the  first  edition 
of  the  original  German  by  Julius  H.  Seelye.  Revised  from 
the  ninth  German  edition,  containing  Important  Additions 
and  Modifications,  with  an  Appendix,  continuing  the  History 
in  its  more  Prominent  Lines  of  Development  since  the  Time 
of  Hegel,  by  Benjamin  T.  Smith.     i2mo.     Cloth,  $2.00. 

"  Schwegler's  History  of  Philosophy  is  found  in  the  hands  of  almost  every  student 
in  the  philosophical  department  of  a  German  University,  and  is  highly  esteemed  for  its 
clearness,  conciseness,  and  comprehensiveness.  The  present  translation  was  under- 
taken with  the  conviction  that  the  work  would  not  lose  its  interest  or  its  value  in  an 
English  dress,  and  with  the  hope  that  it  might  be  of  wider  service  in  such  a  form  to 
students  of  philosophy  nere.  It  was  thought  especially  that  a  proper  translation  of 
this  manual  would  supply  a  want  for  a  suitable  text-book  on  this  branch  of  study,  long 
felt  by  both  teachers  and  students  in  our  American  colleges. " — From  the  Preface. 

JDIOGRAPHICAL     HISTORY    OF    PHIIOSO- 

J-J  PHYy  from  its  Origin  in  Greece  down  to  the  Present  Day. 
By  George  Henry  Lewes.  Two  volumes  in  one.  8vo. 
Cloth.  $3.50.     Also  in  2  vols.,  small  8vo.     Cloth,  $4.00. 

"  Philosophy  was  the  great  initiafor  of  science.  It  rescued  the  nobler  part  of  man 
from  the  dominion  of  brutish  apathy  and  helpless  ignorance,  nourished  his  mind  with 
mighty  impulses,  exercised  it  in  magnificent  efforts,  gave  him  the  unslaked,  unslakable 
thirst  for  knowledge  which  has  dignified  his  life,  and  enabled  him  to  multiply  tenfold 
his  existence  and  his  happiness.  Having  done  this,  its  part  is  played.  Our  interest 
in  it  now  is  purely  historical.  The  purport  of  this  history  is  to  show  how  and  why  the 
interest  in  philosophy  has  become  purely  historical." — From  the  Introduction. 


New  York:  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  Street. 


T 


T 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

USEFUL  BOOKS  FOR  LITERARY  WORKERS. 

HE  VERBALIST.  A  Manual  devoted  to  Brief  Discus- 
sions of  the  Right  and  the  Wrong  Use  of  Words,  and  to  some 
other  Matters  of  Interest  to  those  who  would  Speak  and  Write 
with  Propriety.     By  Alfred  Ayres.     i8mo.     Cloth,  $1.00. 

HE  ORTHOEPIST.  A  Pronouncing  Manual,  contain- 
ing about  Three  Thousand  Five  Hundred  Words,  including  a 
considerable  Number  of  the  Names  of  Foreign  Authors,  Art- 
ists, etc.,  that  are  often  mispronounced.  By  Alfred  Ayres. 
i8mo.     Cloth,  $1.00. 


HTHE  RHYMESTER ;  or  the  Rules  of  Rhyme.     A 

•»        Guide  to  English  Versification.    With  a  Dictionary  of  Rhymes, 

an  Examination  of  Classical   Measures,   and  Comments  upon 

Burlesque,  Comic  Verse,  and  Song- Writing.     By  the  late  Tom 

Hood.     Edited  by  Arthur  Penn.     i8mo.     Cloth,  $1.00. 

n^HE  CORRESPONDENT.     By  James  Wood  David- 
•M        son.     Small  i2mo.     Cloth,  60  cents.     Information,  with  forms 
of  address,  salutation,  etc. 


E 


RRORS  IN  THE  USE  OE  ENGLISH.  By  the 
late  William  B.  Hodgson,  LL.  D.,  Professor  of  Political 
Economy  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh.  American  revised 
edition.     i2mo.     Cloth,  $1.50. 


(TLTPS  OE  TONGUE  AND  PEN.    By  J.  H.  Long, 
*— J       M.  A.,  Principal  of  Collegiate  Institute,  Peterborough,  Ontario. 
i2mo.     Cloth,  60  cents. 


T 


HE  ART  OE  AUTHORSHIP.  Literary  Reminis- 
cences, Methods  of  Work,  and  Advice  to  Young  Beginners. 
Opinions  of  many  Leading  Authors  of  the  Day.  Compiled 
and  edited  by  George  Bainton.  i2mo.  Cloth,  untrimmed 
edges,  $1.25. 


New  York:    D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  Street. 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


THE  LATEST  BOOK  BY  HERBERT  SPENCER. 

^fUSTICE:  Being  Part  IV  of  "The  Principles  of  Mo- 

*J         rality"     I  vol.     i2mo.     Cloth,  $1.25. 

Readers  of  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  will  be  glad  to  learn  that  improved 
health  has  enabled  him  to  add  another  installment  to  the  first  volume  of  his 
4 ■  Principles  of  Morality,"  Part  I  of  which,  "  The  Data  of  Ethics, "  appeared 
in  1879.  The  new  part  {now  ready)  is  on  "Justice,"  and  is  considered  by 
Mr.  Spencer  himself  to  be  one  of  the  most  important  sections  of  his  entire 
philosophical  series.  It  has  a  direct  bearing  upon  living  questions  of  the 
greatest  moment,  whose  solution  can  not  fail  to  be  materially  advanced  by 
the  contributions  of  so  profound  a  thinker. 


NEW  EDITION  OF  HERBERT  SPENCER'S  ESSAYS, 
WITH   ADDITIONS. 

PSSA  YS :  Scientific^  Political,  and  Speculative.  Li- 
brary Edition,  with  full  Subject-Index  of  24  pages.  3  vols., 
i2mo.     Cloth,  $6.00. 

The  publishers  take  pleasure  in  announcing  the  issue  of  a  new  edition  of 
Mr.  Spencer's  miscellaneous  writings,  collected  into  a  single  series  of  three 
volumes,  uniform  with  his  other  works.  The  new  series  comprises  the 
essays  contained  in  the  volumes  entitled  "  Illustrations  of  Universal  Prog- 
ress," and  "  Essays  :  Moral,  Political,  and  ^Esthetic,"  both  of  which  were 
first  published  here  in  1864,  and  also  those  included  in  the  volume  entitled 
"  Recent  Discussions  in  Science,  Philosophy,  and  Morals,"  which  appeared 
several  years  later.  To  these  have  been  added  seven  other  essays  published 
from  time  to  time  as  magazine  articles  since  1882,  namely,  "Morals  and 
Moral  Sentiments,"  "  Tha  Factors  of  Organic  Evolution,"  "  Professor  Green's 
Explanations,"  "The  Ethics  of  Kant,"  M  Absolute  Political  Ethics,"  "From 
Freedom  to  Bondage,"  and  "The  Americans."  The  fusion  of  the  Essays 
into  a  single  series  has  permitted  a  more  systematic  arrangement  than  exists 
in  the  earlier  edition. 


Descriptive  circular,  giving  contents  of  each  volume,  sent  to  any  address 
on  request. 

New  York:  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  Street 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


"  This  work  marks  an  epoch  in  the  history-writing 
of  this  country." — St.  Louis  Post-Dispatch. 


^HE  HOUSEHOLD  HIS- 
TORY OF  THE  UNITED 
STA  TES  AND  ITS  PEOPLE. 
For  Young  Americans.  By  Ed- 
ward Eggleston.  Richly  illus- 
SSsP^  trated  with  350  Drawings,  75  Maps, 

colonial  court-house.  etc.     Square  8vo.     Cloth,  $2.50. 

PHILADELPHIA,    1707. 

FROM  THE  PREFACE. 
The  present  work  is  meant,  in  the  first  instance,  for  the  young—  not  alone 
for  bovs  and  girls,  but  for  young  men  and  women  who  have  yet  to  make 
themselves  familiar  with  the  more  important  features  of  their  country's 
history.  By  a  book  for  the  young  is  meant  one  in  which  the  author  studies  to 
make  his  statements  clear  and  explicit,  in  which  curious  and  picturesque  de- 
tails are  inserted,  and  in  which  the  writer  does  not  neglect  such  anecdotes  as 
lend  the  charm  of  a  human  and  personal  interest  to  the  broader  facts  of  the 
nation's  story.  That  history  is  often  tiresome  to  the  young  is  not  so  much 
the  fault  of  history  as  of  a  false  method  of  writing  by  which  one  contrives 
to  relate  events  without  sympathy  or  imagination,  without  narrative  connec- 
tion or  animation.  The  attempt  to  master  vague  and  general  records  of 
kiln-dried  facts  is  certain  to  beget  in  the  ordinary  reader  a  repulsion  from 
the  study  of  history— one  of  the  very  most  important  of  all  studies  for  its 
widening  influence  on  general  culture. 

"Fills  a  decided  gap  which  has  existed  for 
the  past  twenty  years  in  American  historical 
literature.  The  work  is  admirably  planned 
and  executed,  and  will  at  once  take  its  place  as 
a  standard  record  of  the  life,  growth,  and  de- 
velopment of  the  nation.  It  is  profusely  and 
beautifully  illustrated." — Boston  Transcript. 

"  The  book  in  its  new  dress  makes  a  much 
finer  appearance  than 
before,  and  will  be  wel- 
comed by  older  readers 

as  gladly  as  its  predeces-  Indian's  trap. 

sor  was  greeted  by  girls 

and  boys.  The  lavish  use  the  publishers  have  made  of  colored 
plates,  woodcuts,  and  photographic  reproductions,  gives  an  un- 
wonted piquancy  to  the  printed  page,  catching  the  eye  as  surely 
as  the  text  engages  the  mind." — New  York  Critic. 

v,     "The  author  writes  history  as  a  story.      It  can  'never  be 

less  than  that.      The  book  will   enlist  the  interest  of  young 

people,  enlighten  their  understanding,  and  by  the  glow  of  its 

statements  fix  the  great   events  of  the  country  firmly  in   the 

general   putnam.       ™'™d."-San  Francisco  Bulletin. 


New  York:   D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  i,  3,  &  5  Bond  Street. 


JOHN  BACH  MC  MASTER. 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

r IS  TOR  Y  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

OF  THE  UNITED  STA  TES,  from 
the  Revolution  to  the  Civil  War.  By 
John  Bach  McMaster.  To  be  com- 
pleted in  five  volumes.  Vols.  I,  II, 
and  III  now  ready.  8vo,  cloth,  gilt 
top,  $2.50  each. 

In  the  course  of  this  narrative  much  is  written 
of  wars,  conspiracies,  and  rebellions ;  of  Presi- 
dents, of  Congresses,  of  embassies,  of  treaties, 
of  the  ambition  of  political  leaders,  and  of  the 
rise  of  great  parties  in  the  nation.  Yet  the  his- 
tory of  the  people  is  the  chief  theme.  At  every 
stage  of  the  splendid  progress  which  separates  the 
America  of  Washington  and  Adams  from  the 
America  in  which  we  live,  it  has  been  the  au- 
thor's purpose  to  describe  the  dress,  the  occupa- 
tions, the  amusements,  the  literary  canons  of  the  times  ;  to  note  the  changes 
of  manners  and  morals ;  to  trace  the  growth  of  that  humane  spirit  which 
abolished  punishment  for  debt,  and  reformed  the  discipline  of  prisons  and 
of  jails  ;  to  recount  the  manifold  improvements  which,  in  a  thousand  ways, 
have  multiplied  the  conveniences  of  life  and  ministered  to  the  happiness  of 
our  race  ;  to  describe  the  rise  and  progress  of  that  long  series  of  mechanical 
inventions  and  discoveries  which  is  now  the  admiration  of  the  world,  and  our 
just  pride  and  boast ;  to  tell  how,  under  the  bcrign  influence  of  liberty  and 
peace,  there  sprang  up,  in  the  course  of  a  single  century,  a  prosperity  unpar- 
alleled in  the  annals  of  human  affairs. 

"  The  pledge  given  by  Mr.  McMaster,  that  *  the  history  of  the  people  shall  be  the 
chief  theme,'  is  punctiliously  and  satisfactorily  fulfilled.  He  carries  out  his  promise  in 
a  complete,  vivid,  and  delightful  way.  We  should  add  that  the  literary  execution  of 
the  work  is  worthy  of  the  indefatigable  industry  and  unceasing  vigilance  with  which 
the  stores  of  historical  material  have  been  accumulated,  weighed,  and  sifted.  The 
cardinal  qualities  of  style,  lucidity,  animation,  and  energy,  are  everywhere  present. 
Seldom  indeed  has  a  book  in  which  matter  of  substantial  value  has  been  so  happily 
united  to  attractiveness  of  form  been  offered  by  an  American  author  to  his  fellow- 
citizens." — New  York  Sun. 

"To  recount  the  marvelous  progress  of  the  American  people,  to  describe  their  life, 
their  literature,  their  occupations,  their  amusements,  is  Mr.  McMaster's  object.  His 
theme  is  an  important  one,  and  we  congratulate  him  on  his  success.  It  has  rarely  been 
our  province  to  notice  a  book  with  so  many  excellences  and  so  few  defects." — New  York 
Herald.     ' 

11  Mr.  McMaster  at  once  shows  his  grasp  of  the  various  themes  and  his  special 
capacity  as  a  histoiian  of  the  people.  His  aim  is  high,  but  he  hits  the  mark." — 
New  York  Journal  of  Com  in erce. 

*'.  .  .  The  author's  pages  abound,  too,  with  illustrations  of  the  best  kind  of  histori- 
cal work,  that  of  unearthing  hidden  sources  of  information  and  employing  them,  not 
after  the  modern  style  of  historical  writing,  in  a  mere  report,  but  with  the  true  artistic 
method,  in  a  well-digested  narrative.  ...  If  Mr.  McMaster  finishes  his  work  in  the 
spirit  and  with  the  thoroughness  and  skill  with  which  it  has  begun,  it  will  take  its  place 
among  the  classics  of  American  literature." — Christian  Union. 


New  York :  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  Street. 


THE  DISTINCTIVELY   EDUCATIONAL  MAGAZINE 

OF  THE  PERIOD  IS 

THE 

POPULAR  SCIENCE 
MONTHLY. 

SOME  OF  THE   REASONS  WHY  IT  IS 

INDISPENSABLE   TO   TEACHERS. 

ITS  INCEPTION  was  the  outgrowth  of  educational  ideas  and  purposes. 

ITS  AIM  is  to  give  the  rationale  of  a  scientific  basis  for  all  educative  processes. 

IT  PRESENTS  the  practical  application  of  scientific  principles  to  education. 

IT  RECOGNIZES  the  fact  that  study  and  instruction,  to  be  most  effective,  must 

conform  to  scientific  methods. 
IT  IS  NOT  made  up  of  polemic  essays  or  discussions  of  abstruse  questions  ;  on 

the  contrary,  it  is  eminently  practical  and  essentially  popular,  giving  results 

of  actual  work  instead  of  educational  theories. 
IT  PREPARES  the  teacher  for  instruction  in  every  branch  of  science. 
IT  GIVES  him  a  valuable  fund  of  information  upon  topics  that  must  be  familiar 

to  him  as  a  successful  teacher. 
IT  GIVES  him  a  great  amount  of  useful  material  for  illustration  in  his  daily 

class-work. 
IT  GIVES  interesting  and  instructive  chapters  on  the  various  branches  of  popular 

science,  including 

Anthropology,  Astronomy, 

Botany,  Chemistry,  Education,  Ethics,  Entomology, 

Geography,  Gteology,    Meteorology,    Ornithology,   Physics, 

Political  Economy,  Psychology,  Physiologry, 

Hygiene,  Zoology,  etc. 

ITS  WRITERS  include  many  of  the  most  eminent  scholars  and  teachers  of 

America  and  Europe. 
IT  REPRESENTS  the  valuable  thought  of  the  most  advanced  scientific  men  of 

the  age  in  all  countries.      Its  articles  and  abstract  of  articles,  original, 

selected,  and  illustrated,  give  accounts  of  all  important  discoveries  and  ap- 
plications of  science  that  are  of  general  interest. 
ITS  PAGES  also  faithfully  represent  the  progress  of  scientific  ideas,  as  it  affects 

the  higher  questions  of  human  interest. 
IT  IS  ADAPTED  to  the  wants  of  thoughtful,  inquiring  people.    It  is  addressed 

to  the  intelligent  classes  of  society,  but  treats  its  topics  in  a  popular  style, 

as  free  as  possible  from  technicalities. 


TERMS.— Five  dollars  per  annum,  postage  prepaid,  or  fifty  cents  per  num- 
ber. Subscriptions  may  begin  at  any  time.  Teachers  are  invited  to  addrefs  us 
for  further  particulars. 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers,  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  Street,  New  York. 


RETURN  TO:      CIRCULATION  DEPARTMENT 
198  Main  Stacks 

LOAN  PERIOD     1 
Home  Use 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS. 

Renewals  and  Recharges  may  be  made  4  days  prior  to  the  due  dat 
Books  may  be  renewed  by  calling  642-3405. 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW. 

JAN  0  9  2001 

FORM  NO.  DD6 
50M 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELE 
Berkeley,  California  94720-6000 


YB  34800 


M335475 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


